Emruz Festival Presents a night of fusion from Iranian Folk music to Avant-garde jazz, featuring Mahya Hamedi, Taraneh Mousavi, and Martin Gohary. Each of these artists will perform 30-40 minutes long program.

Concert 1: Kākhe Gomān / Palace of Doubt / کاخ گمان by Mahya Hamedi

"Kākhe Gomān" is a personal project including compositions and improvisations on voice and piano. These pieces are explorations of identity and uncertainty.

Mahya Hamedi (born 1999) is an Iranian vocalist, pianist, and composer from Tehran. She is
currently based in Boston, Massachusetts, pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee
College of Music. Singing and playing the piano since the age of nine, Mahya realized quickly
that music was her lifelong passion. Her early compositions for theatre won local and national
awards, and she performed in groups across Iran and in Greece before university. Unable to
pursue studies in vocal performance in her home country due to a national ban on women
singing, she studied classical piano at the University of Tehran for two years before traveling to
Berklee to focus on voice and composition.

Concert 2: -Souvenirs from the Unknown- By Taraneh Mousavi and her band

The little black fish collected stories;
tenseless pasts,
flowing into the present,
Floating in nameless waters.
Stories like wanderers,
drifting,
on a nameless day
like Yesterday
like Today
like Emruz
Like
Every
Day

Taraneh Mousavi is an Iranian vocalist, composer and educator currently based between Boston and Vancouver. So far, Taraneh has experienced four continents, capturing the spirit of the many places she has felt “at home” throughout her life. Her Music blends jazz, classical and contemporary music with deep connections to poetry and her Persian roots. Taraneh holds a B.M. in jazz performance from the school, and she is currently studying for her master’s degree at Berklee Global Jazz Institute on a full scholarship. In her current project “Home is a River” she explores belonging and distance within the Iranian diaspora in form of an interdisciplinary EP.

Concert 3: camp 7
Martin Gohary - piano + composer

Kathleen Jara - violin

Leo Weisskoff - acoustic bass

The suite at its core is about finding my identity as an Iranian-American. At a young age, I remember being surrounded by Persians; the aroma of the food, the music, the culture. But as I got older (post 9/11) my worldview was forever changed. There were jokes at school about my father being a terrorist; the constant assumption I was Muslim (even though our mother raised us Roman Catholic); seeing bombings from the Middle East every night on TV….. I felt angrier and angrier at the world and this country for its imperialistic actions throughout the Middle East.

More recently, I learned of various torture methods that the United States finally admitted to committing on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. I felt that I finally had a clearer language to express my emotions from years earlier, and that the suite could help me communicate my rage, sadness, and love of the culture that was obliterated by propaganda. The music reflects these torn emotions

Boston-based Avant-Garde composer Martin Gohary is an artist that has always pushed the limits while remaining focused on developing his craft at all times. Over the past decade, he has been steadily recording original compositions, playing live shows, collaborating with multiple musicians and producers, and inventing new pathways to channel his artistic vision beyond the boundaries of Jazz or Experimental music.