Elshan Ghasimi –Tasneef. Old songs, new life

Tasneef represents a close connection between music and poetry, whereby Elshan Ghasimi redesigns this by transforming pop and folk songs and transferring them into the 'sphere of classical music'.


While retaining the basis and structure, she simultaneously deconstructs and reconstructs the form, intervenes in the poetic language, politicizes some of these songs and swaps gender roles, for example.


She converts colloquial terms into standard language. In this way, Elshan Ghasimi combines classical and contemporary elements of Persian music and poetry into an amalgam that draws on thousands of years and brings the old songs to life again.


With Tasneef, Elshan Ghasimi presents a unique combination of old songs and newly composed overtures that shape the structure of the performances: the overture provides a musical introduction, followed by the more or less heavily modified original historical song.


With her deep roots in the Radif tradition - the repertoire of Persian music that has been passed down orally for centuries - she succeeds not only in keeping this musical tradition alive, but also in making it accessible to a new, international audience.

A special aspect of this project is the restoration of a forgotten practice: in the pre-Arab period, women were allowed to perform as musicians just as men - a tradition that Ghasimi is reviving with great passion.


Their work is not only a homage to the musical past of Persia, but also an understanding of a contemporary space of possibility for updating, enlivening and combining the present with the richness of the past.


Free admission, donations requested