Kayhan Kalhor (, born on 24 November 1964) is an Iranian Kurdish kamancheh and setar player, and composer. He has received three Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album nominations. Kalhor has also earned two nominations and won one Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble.

Early life and education

Kayhan Kalhor was born in Kermanshah to a Kurdish family. He began studying music at the age of seven. By the age of thirteen, he was playing in the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran. Continuing his music studies under the supervision of various teachers, he studied in the Iranian radif tradition and also travelled to study in the northern part of Khorasan province, where music traditions have Kurdish and Turkish influences as well as Persian. At a musical conservatory in Tehran, Kalhor worked under the directorship of Mohammad-Reza Lotfi who is from the northeast of Iran. Kalhor also travelled in the northwestern provinces of Iran. At age 17, he left Iran and moved to Italy to study music in Rome. He migrated to Italy by land, walking through Turkey, Romania, and Yugoslavia, picking up menial farm work along the way to support himself. After studying music in Rome, he moved to Canada, where he graduated from the music program at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Four years after Kalhor left Iran, his parents and brother were killed in an Iraqi missile attack during the Iran-Iraq War.

Kalhor and Soltanabadi attempted to gain permanent residency in the United States. However, shortly after their wedding, Soltanabadi's father died and she had to return to Iran to care for her mother. For the next few years they saw each other mostly by Skype and sometimes met abroad. Kalhor eventually had his application for permanent residency granted. In 2017, Soltanabadi applied for residency in the US but was refused. That same year, Kalhor was informed that the US authorities were considering revoking his legal status as a US resident. Kalhor subsequently returned to Iran. He and Soltanabadi currently live in Tehran, but he still visits the United States to give performances.

In 2019 he cancelled his Istanbul concert in Turkey due to Turkey's offensive into Rojava, Syria. In a video released on social media, Kalhor said, “A violent war has erupted in northern Syria which has made the lives of the Kurdish people much more difficult....I was scheduled to hold a concert in Istanbul, but I will cancel it out of respect for my Kurdish brothers and sisters” He has not held any concerts in Turkey since then.

Discography

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Album artists

! Album

! Release date

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor, Morteza Ayan || Eastern Apertures || 1995

|-

| Ghazal || Lost Songs of the Silk Road || 1997

|-

| Ghazal || As Night Falls on the Silk Road || 1998

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor || Scattering Stars Like Dust || 1998

|-

| Shahram Nazeri and Dastan Ensemble || Through Eternity || 1999

|-

| Ghazal || Moon Rise over the Silk Road || 2000

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor and Mohammad Reza Shajarian || Night, Silence, Desert || 2000

|-

| Kronos Quartet || Caravan || 2000

|-

| Masters of Persian Music || It's Winter || 2001

|-

| Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble || Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet || 2001

|-

| Masters of Persian Music || Without You<sup>†</sup> || 2002

|-

| Ghazal || The Rain<sup>†</sup> || 2003

|-

| Ali Akbar Moradi || In the Mirror of the Sky || 2004

|-

| Masters of Persian Music || Faryad<sup>†</sup> || 2005

|-

| Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble || Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon || 2005

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor & Erdal Erzincan || The Wind || 2006

|-

| Masters of Persian Music || Saze Khamoosh || 2007

|-

| Masters of Persian Music || Soroude Mehr || 2007

|-

| Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble || New Impossibilities || 2007

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor & Brooklyn Rider || Silent City || 2008

|-

| Silk Road Ensemble || Off the Map<sup>†</sup> || 2009

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor & Madjid Khaladj || Voices of the Shades || 2011

|-

| Dresdner Sinfoniker || Cinema Jenin OST || 2011

|-

| Brooklyn Rider Quartet || Rhino Season OST || 2012

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor & Ali Bahrami Fard || I Will Not Stand Alone || 2012

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor & Erdal Erzincan || Kula Kulluk Yakişir Mi || 2013

|-

| Kayhan Kalhor & Brooklyn Rider || Layers of Darkness || 2014

|-

| Hawniyaz || Hawniyaz || 2016

|-

| Silk Road Ensemble || The Music of Strangers<sup>†§</sup> || 2017

|-

| Silk Road Ensemble || Sing me home<sup>†§</sup> || 2017

|-

|Kayhan Kalhor & Rembrandt Frerichs Trio

|It's Still Autumn

|2019

|-

|Kayhan Kalhor & Toumani Diabate

|The Sky is the Same colour Everywhere

|2023

|}

† Nominated for a Grammy Award

<sup>§</sup> Won a Grammy Award

See also

  • Dastgah
  • Music of Iran

References

  • Video: Kayhan Kalhor speaking as a member of Silk Road Ensemble, December 2008