Catalan-Spanish conductor Jordi Savall enthralls UAE audiences

Catalan-Spanish conductor Jordi Savall enthralls UAE audiences

Award-winning Catalan-Spanish conductor and musician Jordi Savall, performed at Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation theatre this month. The septuagenarian took audiences on a melodious journey, spanning 500 years of the philosophical, cultural and historical Arabic roots of Grenada in Andalusia. “There is a lot of information from 1500 until the Romantic time, says Savall, describing the […]

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EU summit climate showdown

EU summit climate showdown

looks like a normal day in the EU quarter. But a closer look shows a number of people scrambling up and down the EU’s new 312 million Euro European Council building. Greenpeace activists tied themselves to the window frames and let off loud sirens to remind EU leaders about what they consider a climate emergency. […]

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Tonbak revival

Tonbak revival

Today, Iran’s tonbak drumming scene is thriving. There are more and more places for young people to learn to play instruments and perform and a growing number of professional percussionists. Javad Alirezaei, a rising star of the Iranian classical music scene, told me that mastering the tonbak is a long process that requires finding a […]

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Tonbak

Tonbak

Tonbak, sometimes written as Tombak is one of the most known and popular Persian musical instruments in Iran. It is a hollow Iranian instrument like a drum. In simple words, it’s carved from a single piece of wood, a hollow center is on the top and open from the bottom side. A goatskin or sheepskin […]

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