Kaveh

HIVA: DEBUT ALBUM FROM VIRTUOSO AHMAD AL KHATIB & KAVEH MAHMUDIYAN. When the duo Ahmad Al Khatib and Kaveh Mahmudiyan now release their first album, "Hiva", it is with music from the piece "Study for Tombak and Oud" commissioned by Global Oslo Music in 2023. This work originated in a masterful meeting between two of the foremost performers in the world on the Oud, the stringed instrument that has a central place in classical Arabic music, and the percussion instrument Tombak, which is used to a particular extent within older Iranian musical traditions. Have a listen!

Those who have been paying close attention have realized by now that Kaveh Rastegar has been the secret weapon behind some of the most thrilling music of the last 20 years, across a wide spectrum of styles.

Kaveh Rastegar is a bassist, multi instrumentalist, producer and recording artist who has collaborated with a long list of artists. As a bassist, Rastegar is best known as a founding member of the genre-blurring Grammy Award-nominated quintet Kneebody. He’s also toured the world with superstars like John Legend (and also appeared as his fictional counterpart in the beloved musical La La Land), recorded with artists like Shania Twain, Beck, Ringo Starr, Colin Hay and served as musical director for songwriter/hitmaker Sia, and works with R&B sensation Sabrina Claudio as both songwriter and co-producer. As a songwriter he’s penned songs with and for heavy hitters like Bruno Mars, Ceelo Green, Meshell Ndegeocello, De La Soul, Dawn Richard, Kimbra, Marsha Ambrosious and Ciara among many others.

Sin da molto piccolo Cyrus Shams ha dovuto fare i conti con la morte. Quando aveva pochi mesi la madre, Roya, rimase uccisa in un terribile disastro aereo causato da un incrociatore americano che abbatté, per errore, l’aereo di linea iraniano su cui viaggiava. Il padre, Ali, alla ricerca di un futuro diverso, e per tentare di fuggire al dolore, si trasferì con il piccolo Cyrus proprio negli Stati Uniti, lavorando per il resto della vita in un allevamento di polli nell’Indiana, fino a spegnersi improvvisamente mentre il figlio era al college. Cyrus, infatti, grazie alla sua intelligenza vivace e al talento per la poesia si era garantito una borsa di studio in una buona università, dove aveva anche avuto le prime esperienze con alcol e droghe..

Throughout most of the classical period, Persia was one of the great superpowers, placing a limit on the expansion of Western powers. It was the most formidable rival to the Roman Empire for centuries, until Persia, by then under the Sassanians, was overwhelmed by the Islamic conquests in the seventh century AD.