Silk Road Ensemble Wins Grammy Award

EghtesadOnline: Cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma and his ensemble Silk Road, in which Iranian Kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor is a member, won a Grammy award for ‘Sing Me Home’ album on Sunday.

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14 February 2017

The 59th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles on February 12 during which top musical works in the past year were awarded, Mehr News Agency reported.

Yo-Yo Ma, an American-Chinese musician known to many as the most prominent cello virtuoso of the century, won the award for the best world music album which is an exploration of the musical connections across Eurasia, featuring tunes composed or arranged by different global artists.

A composer and master of classical Kurdish and Iranian traditional music, Kalhor, 53, plays kamancheh (Iranian bowed string instrument) in the Silk Road ensemble which includes music players from different ethnicities, something that has bestowed an international identity to the group. Kalhor’s compositions appear on all three of the ensemble’s albums, Financial Tribune reported.

His mastery also covers Persian violin and setar which is a member of lute family. He is globally renowned for his original works, his interpretations of traditional music, and his collaborations with other classical and modern musicians.

Kalhor’s music is a journey to the roots of traditional Iranian music. It takes the listener to a world of musical ecstasy and gives extreme spiritual joy combined with peace.

Along with world-class musicians, Kalhor has performed in several countries such as Japan, China, Turkey, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the US among others.

Yo-Yo Ma established the ensemble in 1998 to bring together musicians from the historic route that connected the Middle East and Asia, in hopes both of finding artistic commonalities and furthering the cause of intercultural understanding. Professional musicians from 20 different countries are in the group, which has since held concerts in many countries and cities, especially in the members’ hometowns.