Amir

At nineteen, Amir became an instructor of Tar at the Center, and subsequently continued to explore his passion for Persian music through composition and improvisation. Amir has worked extensively on Persian 'Radif' (stylization of music) over the last 13 years, and has mastered the classical approaches to performing and studying Radif.

In 1991 he emigrated to Canada and since then has given over 60 performances in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including the WOMAD Festival in Toronto (1991), the Sufi Music Village Festival in London, UK (1997), Comox Festival, Roots Festival and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival (1999, 2002).

He created and performed the music for two plays on Sufi themes, Quest (1996) and Love (1997), for both of which he was nominated for a Jesse Richardson award.

Amir now divides his time between his research and study of music composition and electroacoustics at SFU, teaching Tar and Setar at Vancouver Community College and to his private students, and performing throughout North America with his three groups, Moshtagh, Ruh Afza and Safa with Salvador Ferreras and François Houle. He has three recordings on CD: Quest with Houman Pourmehdi; In the Path of Love, a mystic fusion of east and west with Eyvand Kang; Parveneh, a collaboration with veteran Persian singer, Khatereh-Parveneh; and the recently released Alight by the trio Safa with collaborators Ferreras and Houle.

Amir has gathered and trained a dynamic group of Tar and Setar players and students all devoted to both promotion and preservation of Persian classical
music, the Mostagh Music Group. Almost four years old, this group has already performed several concerts for such organizations as the Rumi Society of Vancouver, the Sacred Music Festival, the Spirit of Islam Exhibition of the Museum of Anthropology at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, the Iranian Canadian Cultural Association at Capilano College and the Centennial Theatre. Most of these performances have also featured Amir performing and directing with the smaller ensemble Ruh Afza.

Recent solo and trio performances in Vancouver have included the Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2000, and 2002, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival 1999, 2001, and 2002, Festival Vancouver's debut in 2000, and the University of British Columbia.

Amir toured several cities in the United States performing in several universities in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington. D.C. He was also invited to perform at the Smithsonian Institute as part of the Silk Route Programme with Eyvand Kang and at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 2001. Most recently he toured eastern Canada with Safa performing in Toronto, Gatineau, Quebec City, and Halifax.

Discography

• Quest with Houman Pourmehdi
• In the Path of Love with violinist Eyvand Kang
• Parveneh with veteran Persian singer, Khatereh-Parveneh
• Alight with collaborators Salvador Ferreras and François Houle
• Delshodeh with Nooshin Abedi

Awards

• 1997 Jesse Richardson Award "Love" Musical score for theatre production
• 1996 Jesse Richardson Award "Quest" Musical score for theatre production

What The Critics Say...

• "Koushkani sings and his throaty voice has the same kind of passionate intensity that you might find in the blues.... Koushkani seeks and finds the devine in
  sound." (The Georgia Straight)
• "... Amir is able to lose himself in the beauty and creativity of his music.... This cd is the story of Amir's past seven years in Canada. It reflects the influence of his background and experience as well as his spiritual voyage and search for meaning." (liner notes to Quest, 1998)
• "... inspired, contemplative and pure enjoyment." (Victory Review, Acoustic Music Magazine, Sept. 1999 on Quest)
• "... travelling a mystical music path... Those with open hearts may join Koushkani on a journey of transcendence this weekend at the 22nd annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival." (North Shore News, July 1999)
• "Amir is an exceptional Tar player who evokes the mystical and spiritual beauty of his persian culture. His deep masterly of Iranian tradition and his instrumental adventures blend into a free-flowing and timeless exposition of the persian art of improvisation." (programme notes for UBC school of Music - Recital Hall Performance, Sept 27, 2000)