Amir ElSaffar (born 1977 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. His compositions combine jazz, classical, and traditional Arabic music.
ElSaffar was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1977. His mother, Ruth Anthony El Saffar, an American, was a Cervantes scholar and Jungian analyst. His father, Zuhair El Saffar, is an Iraqi immigrant and physicist. He studied classical music at Depaul University in Chicago. In 2001, he won the Carmine Caruso Jazz Trumpet Competition and the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Improvisation Competition. He studied Iraqi maqam music in Baghdad and learned to play an Iraqi instrument, the santur. He began to weave traditional Arabic music into modern jazz trumpet. In 2007, he released his debut album, Two Rivers, for Pi Recordings. [1] For the 2020-2021 school year, he is a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. [2]
ElSaffar has created new techniques to play microtones and ornaments that are idiomatic to Arab music but are not typically heard on the trumpet. As a composer, ElSaffar has used the microtones found in maqam music to create a unique approach to harmony and melody.
In 2002 he began studying the maqam tradition of music composition in Baghdad and London, with Hamid al-Saadi, one of the most renowned maqam singers in Iraq and is currently an acknowledged performer of the classical Iraqi maqam tradition. He performs actively as a vocalist and santur player with his group, Safaafir, the only ensemble in the US performing Iraqi Maqam in its traditional format.
In 2006, ElSaffar received commissions from the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia and from the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), to compose Two Rivers, a suite that invokes Iraqi musical traditions and frames them in a modern jazz setting. ElSaffar has since received commissions from the Jerome Foundation, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and Chamber Music America and has continued developing a singular approach to integrating Middle Eastern tonalities and rhythms into an American jazz context, releasing three albums; Two Rivers (2006), Radif Suite (2010), and Inana (2011) to critical acclaim. He has also composed for theater projects and film soundtracks, and appeared in Jonathan Demme’s Oscar-nominated film, Rachel Getting Married.
As a sideman, ElSaffar has performed with Cecil Taylor, Simon Shaheen, Randy Brecker, Miya Masaoka, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, and Samir Chatterjee.
In addition to his busy performance schedule, ElSaffar curates a weekly concert series at Alwan for the Arts, New York's premiere center for Middle Eastern arts and culture.
As leader
As sideman
The music of Iraq or Iraqi music,, also known as the music of Mesopotamia, encompasses the music of a number of ethnic groups and musical genres. Ethnically, it includes Mesopotamian Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish and the music of Turkmen, among others. Apart from the traditional music of these peoples, Iraqi music includes contemporary music styles such as pop, rock, soul and urban contemporary.
Arabic music is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic dialects, with each country and region having their own traditional music.
The music of Iran encompasses music that is produced by Iranian artists. In addition to the traditional folk and classical genres, it also includes pop and internationally celebrated styles such as jazz, rock, and hip hop.
Persian traditional music or Iranian traditional music, also known as Persian classical music or Iranian classical music, refers to the classical music of Iran. It consists of characteristics developed through the country's classical, medieval, and contemporary eras. It also influenced areas and regions that are considered part of Greater Iran.
Munir Bashir was an Iraqi-Assyrian oudist. Bashir is considered one of the foremost virtuosos of the Arabic oud, and is widely renowned as one of the most important figures in 20th century Middle Eastern music.
Roy Anthony Hargrove was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved worldwide acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles of jazz in 1998 and 2002. Hargrove primarily played in the hard bop style for the majority of his albums, but also had a penchant for genre-crossing exploration and collaboration with a variety of hip hop, neo soul, R&B and alternative rock artists. As Hargrove told one reporter, "I've been around all kinds of musicians, and if a cat can play, a cat can play. If it's gospel, funk, R&B, jazz or hip-hop, if it's something that gets in your ear and it's good, that's what matters."
Iraqi Maqam is a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq. The roots of modern Iraqi maqam can be traced as far back as the Abbasid Caliphate, when that large empire was controlled from Baghdad. The ensemble of instruments used in this genre, called Al Chalghi al Baghdadi, includes a qari' (singer), santur, goblet drum, joza, cello, and sometimes oud and naqqarat. The focus is on the poem sung in classical Arabic or an Iraqi dialect. A complete maqam concert is known as fasl and is named after the first maqam: Bayat, Hijaz, Rast, Nawa, or Husayni.
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Master Farâmarz Pâyvar was an Iranian composer and santur player. Payvar died on 9 December 2009 after a long struggle with brain damage. Although once perceived as marginal, the santur is now considered an important solo instrument in Persian classical music, largely as a result of his work. Over the course of his career, Payvar revolutionised its playing, led two major ensembles and made numerous recordings.
Farida Mohammad Ali is an Iraqi singer. She performs regularly in the Iraqi Maqam Ensemble. The ensemble was established in 1989 in Baghdad by Mohammad H.Gomar to continue of the 1973 ensemble organized by the prominent lute professor Munir Bashir. She had taught maqam singing at the Baghdad Conservatory. She left Iraq in 1997. She is married to Mohammad Gomar the Djozza instrument player and lives in the Netherlands.
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Majid Kiani is a Master of the Persian Santur. He was the best student of Manoochehr Sadeghi, among others. He teaches traditional Iranian music and his masterpiece is the book named: "Seven Dastgah(s) of Iranian Music". He is a leading figure in the Iranian musical establishment, and known for his controlled expositions.
The santur, is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.
The Dammam is a large double-headed cylinder drum or frame drum played by Shias in Iraq and Iran in religious ceremonies. The dammām is usually struck with the left hand and a curved stick in the right hand, especially during passion plays in the mourning month of Muharram or to wake up the devotees early in the morning of Ramadan.