WOMAD

The Kamkars, Kurdish Traditions

20:00 23rd July on the All Singing All Dancing

The Kamkars Biography

The first family of Iranian music
From the Jackson Five to the Kings Of Leon, musical history has been populated by many melody-making siblings. Sometimes, generations-spanning musical dynasties evolve - see here the folk-singing extended families of both the Waterson/Carthy and Wainwright/McGarrigle axes of excellence. In Iranian music, one name dominates - Kamkar. With the head of the family being Hassan Kamkar, one of the most influential Iranian musicians of the last century, it was no surprise that seven of his sons and one daughter would follow the family trade (they also now feature one of Hassan's granddaughters). Drawing from the rich traditions of Kurdish and Persian musics, they traverse a varied landscape - one minute singing of the intricacies of love, the next detailing the epic nature of bloody battles. Armed with region-specific instruments like the daf frame drum and the tar lute, the Kamkars transport their audiences on wings of song to a place somewhere east of here.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2010)

The Kamkars Products At Our Store

• Nightingale With a Broken Wing