For this special appearance at the Blackburn Study Center, ElSaffar performs solo, combining his trumpet, santur, voice with analog modular synthesizer, inviting listeners on a meditative journey into trance-like states. He will be joined by Zahra Ali.

Amir ElSaffar is an Iraqi-American composer, trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and modular synthesist, working at the intersections of jazz, Western classical, Iraqi and Arabic Maqam, and electro-acoustic music. Described as “the celebrated trumpeter and composer who explores vital connections between jazz and Arabic music” (NYT), and “The Innovator” (SPIN), ElSaffar has created a unique microtonal language that merges the Arabic maqam modal system with jazz and Western classical harmony.  He leads Two Rivers and the 17-piece Rivers of Sound Orchestra, combining jazz and improvised music with the Iraqi and Middle Eastern maqam. He has created works for jazz ensembles, string quartets, mixed chamber ensembles, and symphony orchestras, in addition to leading numerous hybrid projects with Raga, Flamenco, and North African trance music.  In his most recent work he incorporates electronic elements, such as analog modular synthesizer. He is also the director of Maqam Studio, a space in Brooklyn that fosters community, innovation, and preservation of the Maqam musical language.

Librettist Zahra Ali is a writer, professor, and feminist scholar. Born in Paris to Iraqi refugee parents, she grew up in France, lived in Iraq, and is now based in New York City. She is a professor of Sociology at Rutgers University-Newark, and is the founder of Critical Studies of Iraq. Ali writes about people surviving loss and exile, finding meaning and beauty in rising up against oppression, dictatorship, and war. Ali is also an Iraqi Maqam vocalist, trained by Hamid Al-Saadi, the only surviving master who had the entire repertoire of the genre memorized.