Project Description

Artist Profile

Shams Ensemble

Founded in 1980, Iran.
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Artist Profile

Shams Ensemble
Musician

Founded in 1980, Iran.

The Shams Ensemble was founded in Iran in 1980, by Kaykhosro Pournazeri – a musicologist who retrieved the spiritual instrument Tanbour from the heart of the Sufi monasteries and introduced it to the world stage.

Reclaiming melodies from past millennia, reviving the traditional instrument Tanbour, discovering the secrets of Iranian mystical music, creating a whole new style in Iranian music by blending passion, emotion, spirituality, and performance, and the most advanced techniques of composition and performance: these are the hallmarks of the Pournazeri family and the Shams Ensemble.

Pournazeri was the first to compose based on the music of the Tanbour, and combined it with the poetry of Rumi and the other traditional Sufi instrument, the Daf. Through presentation of these pieces, the Shams Ensemble was introduced as the premier source for composition and performance of Iranian spiritual music and of the Tanbour.

As Kaykhosro’s sons Tahmoures and Sohrab Pournazeri joined the Shams Ensemble, they also began composing and designing new music founded on their father’s style and incorporating the musical traditions of various nations. This has resulted in the birth of one of the most interesting and attractive new forms of Iranian music – to the point that, after thirty years, the Shams Ensemble has been able to not only retain its fan base but also continually gain new enthusiasts among the Iranian youth.

In addition to their focus on performing Iranian music, the Pournazeris and the Shams Ensemble have been active supporters of other artists. Following the ban on female musicians (after the Islamic Revolution of 1979), they have put great effort into returning women to the musical stage. As points of pride, they have nurtured the first female Tanbour players, and, after ten years of striving, were able to utilize two female vocalists in their work despite the ban on the solo female voice. In addition, Kaykhosro Pournazeri can be counted as the foremost supporter of young performers on the modern Iranian music scene – a fact that has become his personal doctrine and must be considered one of the band’s great strengths.

Currently, the Shams Ensemble and the Pournazeris present their musical activities in several forms: 1. Spiritual music, performed primarily by the Tanbour group; 2. Iranian folk music; 3. Kurdish music as performed by traditional instruments; 4. Collaboration with symphony orchestras; 5. Fusion music in combination with the music and musicians of other nations.

This event marks the first time Homayoun Shajarian, one of the most revered figures in traditional Persian vocals, will perform alongside the Shams Ensemble on stage.

2018

Morocco FES Festival

From the Western Iranian province of Kermanshah, Ensemble Shams delivered a captivating performance underneath the baking sun of Fez’s Jardin Jnan Sbil. Inspired by a fusion of Sufi, Persian and Kurdish classical music, their work celebrates the poetry of the great Sufi Master Rumi. Sohrab Pournazeri as a member of Shams Ensemble had an incomparabe performance at the FES Festival.

2018

Konya Mystic Music Festival

Shams Ensemble first performance with Homayoun Shajarian at the anniversary of the birth of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi at Konya, Turkey.

2016

Barana Music Festival – Niavaran

Shams Ensemble performed at the Barana Music Festival which was held in the summer of 2016 for seven nights at Tehran’s Niavaran Palace

2016

Barana Music Festival – Bisotun

Shams Ensemble performed at the Barana Music Festival in Bisotun which brought together a number of prominent Iranian and international artists to perform in the historical Bisotun complex near the Iranian city of Kermanshah.

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