Have Bow Will Travel

This event is co-sponsored by SFU's David Lam Centre.

Featuring Crossbridge Strings & Persian Quartet

HAVE BOW WILL TRAVEL showcases bowed string instruments from diverse cultures, including erhu (China), kamancheh (Iran), rebab (Indonesia), violin and double bass. Various combinations of instruments create dynamic fusions from classical and folk Persian repertoire to contemporary electroacoustic composition and improvised music of different approaches.

Sina Ettehad, Marjan Alekhamis, and Mohammad Amini will perform on Persian fiddles: kamancheh, kamancheh alto, and ghaychak alto. Babak Banihoseini joins them on various traditional Iranian drums. This newly formed quartet will perform Iranian classical music, both compositions and improvisation, from the traditional Dastgahi repertoire, rooted in Iranian folk traditions.

Lan Tung will give the world premiere of Montreal composer Tim Brady’s electroacoustic work “Concerto Etude” for solo erhu (Chinese violin) and fixed media. Brady’s rhythmic, energetic, and colourful work will satisfy the contemporary ears in the audience. Lan recorded this piece for video release during the pandemic. This will be the first time Lan performs it in front of a live audience.

Established in 2021, Crossbridge Strings brings together Vancouver’s diverse bowed string players from east and west and uses improvisation as the medium for musical exchange. It is a collective of all-star improvising musicians from Iranian, Taiwanese, Indonesian, avant-garde, jazz, and western contemporary music backgrounds: Meredith Bates (violin), Joshua Zubot (violin), James Meger (bass), Sina Ettehad (kamancheh), Lan Tung (erhu & vocals), and Sutrisno Hartana (rebab, suling & vocals). While the strings weave together vibrant tapestries, Sutrisno Hartana and Lan Tung add rich colours and nuances with their unique vocals, and bass and Indonesian drums provide a rhythmic foundation. The sounds from various genres naturally emerge and evolve, revealing distinct characters of each instrument/player to the foreground through spontaneous orchestration and dynamic shifts. Traditional and contemporary sounds meet to create unexpected textures that transcend cultural/genre boundaries.