N -- E f E m U u t o a E. l I F o- f E (J a = U z LrJ E w Music Th e keepers f Persian lassical nusic By Andrew ilbed Correspondent Sometimes t seems hat classical Persian culture is welcome everywhere but at home n lran. Music in particular has been badly buffeted in the Islamic Republic, where even the most venerable art- ists often are tolerated more than celebrated. While sold- out venues around the globe greet the multigenerational ensemble Masters of Per- sian Music, which performs Saturday at ZellerbachHall for Cal- Performances and Sunday at Montalvo Arts Center's Carriase House Theatre, in Iranlhe group rarely has the opportunity to play n public. "One of the first efforts that the regime made in the early days was o ban music," savs Abbas Milani, director of Stanford's Program: 'Initially, the only thing they would allow on TV and radio were Islamic passion plays and Koranic recitals. Vocalists, particu- Iarly women vocalists, were banned." Iran loosened strictures against concerts n the 1990s, but the country/s musicians have found themselves in an incrgasingly tenuous po- sition since the contested elections in June and the rise of a broad-based rotest movement. For Kayhan Kal- hor, who founded Masters of Persian Music with Hossein Alizadeh in 1992, he group has provided a welcome n- ternational outlet at a time when many doors at home have closed. "The situation is too social and oo political," says Kalhor, 47, speaking from his home in Tehran. "There are hu- monsous imitations on what people can do. We don't have o Wany concerts scheduled ere 2 W"oy though "llg,!,"!Tc, " nerform over the surlmer. It's difficult to overstate the reverence with which the ensemble's eaders are held. A visionary composer hailed as his generation"s most vivid and eloquent in- strumentalist, Alizadeh, 58, is a virtuoso on the Persian plucked lute, or far. Steeped tertwined with rhythms of classical Persian poetry, he is also a noted avant-garde composer. "Classical musicians are ranked in a well-respected hierarchy based on whether thev have studied wit h a cer- tairi number of masters and learned the goushehs of the dastgahi' Milani says, refer- ring to the modes and melo- dies that make up the Radif. _ "There's a consensrs hat Alizadeh is someone who has delved deeply but also innovatively, particularly by bringing elements of folk- Ioric music nto the classical structures. His most famous songs use all the ornamenta- tion and all the structures of classical music, but infuse t with vivacity and energy of folkloric and ethnic music." Kalhor is better known in the West than his older col- league, having lived in Eu- rope and the United States foi much of his adult life (although he moved back to Iran in 2003). The world's foremost master of the Per- sian spike-fiddle, or leaman- cheh,hewasborn nto an ra- nian Kurdish family, and like Alizadeh has expanded the classical repertoire by tap- ping into folkloric music.He's Masters of Persian Music When:8 .m. Sunday Where: Montalvo rts Center, i5400 Montalvo oad; ara- toga Tickets: $35-$45, 08-961- 5858, www. montalvoarts.org Also:8 p.m. Saturday, eller- bach Hall, Berkeley. 25-$60, 510-642-9988 performed in the Bay Area with the innovative string quartet Brooklyn Rider. One of the main reasons that he and Alizadeh founded Masters of Persian Music was to bridge a generational chasm exacerbated by the revolution, which sundered a. musical tradition dating back some 1,500 ears. Many of the country's mid-Z0th century masters eft, ran in the 1980s. Their departure Ieft the post-revolutionary generation, which makes up nearly 70 percent of the population, without teachers and guides o pass on he an- cient oral tradition. "We've been trying to keep the relationship going, and do what's necessary or today's Persian music," Kal- hor says. "'We're working with younger rnusicians to discover what they have to cases some of the tradition's most celebrated younger players, most notably vocal- ist Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh, a disciple ofthe vocal egend Mohammad Reza Shajarian, who is making his Bay Area debut. The group also fea- tures Alizadeh's son, Nima Alizadeh on robab (htte), ouzbeh Rahimi on santur (hammered Ali- reza Hosseini on tombah (drum) and Siamak Jahan- gl y on zey (reed lute). Rather than only setting beloved medieval Persian po- ets such asHafez, Ferdowsi, Sadi and Rumi to music, he group also interprets con- temporarypoetry. While building bridges among ranians, Kalhor'and Alizadeh are equally com- mitted to presenting another face of Iran, where he politi- cal situation oft,en overshad- ows an ancient and sophisti- cated civilization. "We come from a very old and valuable culture that has contributed a lot to the world," Kalhor says. We're always trying to represent the modern culture of lran. We're not pure.traditional- ists, but we're very rooted. "The linkwith the old cul- ture is there, but we try to Kayhan alhor, eft, nd Hossein lizadeh, f h e group Masters . f Persian usic "Wb're lways rying o represent h e modern ulture f ranJ' alhor ays.