The Silkroad Ensemble: Silent City | SILKROAD

Learn more: Follow Silkroad here: See Silkroad Live: For “Silent City,“ the kamancheh (Persian spike fiddle), Western strings and percussion join in a meditation that is created anew with each performance. Composer and kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor wrote the piece to commemorate the Kurdish village of Halabjah in Iraqi Kurdistan. “I chose to base the piece on an altered A-minor scale using Kurdish themes to remember the Kurdish people.“ The performers develop the piece by improvisation until the last section, arranged by Ljova (shown in this video), which follows conventional composition and notation. This excerpt was filmed during a concert by the Silkroad Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma in Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre in March 2011. Kayhan Kalhor speaks about this piece in a video interview: “Silent City“ was commissioned by Silkroad and made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation. It was first performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 20, 2005. “Silent City“ was composed by Kayhan Kalhor and arranged by Kayhan and Ljova. Learn more: Follow Silkroad here: See Silkroad Live: