CIIS presents Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan
2015-11-20
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102
8:00 PM, Friday, November 20, 2015

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[8:06 PM lights down, announcements by ?Alfonso Montuori; 8:09 tuning]

1. [8:10 PM] ? (the magic begins…the music ebbs and flows, unfolding in directions unanticipated but unambiguously correct…100% uninterrupted improvisation)
   [show ends 9:50 PM; the crowd applauds for a few minutes; the musicians bow, then leave, and the lights come up]

• Erdal Erzincan: baglama;
• Kayhan Kalhor: kamancheh.

Definitely the best show I've seen this month, and possibly the best show I've seen this year. Positively enchanting. I was transported through numerous realms by this music: mountains, deserts, echoing canyons, cosmic vistas and places beyond words, time and reason. It's hard to explain, but just about everything they did seemed exactly perfect for that moment. And after ten or fifteen minutes of coughing and shuffling, the audience quieted down so that when the musicians took time to let things get really quiet you could hear far into the soft finger scraping and tapping against the acoustic instruments. Three cheers for self-assembly of a group of DEEP LISTENERS!

Kayhan has been on my “must see” list for a few years now, and tonight's gig further cements his status there. I don't recall seeing Erdal before, but I hope it's not too long before I get to hear him play again. It would be really interesting to hear him playing duets in the company of Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile, or Béla Fleck … something in the manner of Kavi Alexander's Waterlily Acoustics recording sessions: a meeting of minds, to see what sort of common ground can be established between virtuoso string players of widely disparate traditions.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!