In its third installment, the concert series Crossroads of Sound will feature Iranian music, weaving traditional sounds with contemporary influences.
According to marketing materials for the event, the Crossroads of Sound series was born from a vision of “uniting local talent to celebrate and bridge the diverse modal music traditions of the Middle East, the Balkans, and Anatolia.”
“Musically, [guests] will hear something they probably had not heard before,” said Volkan Efe, who organized the concert series last year with the help of fellow musician Theresa Thompson. “And they will learn how cultures who are politically in conflict, or often in war, share very rich musical traditions.”
The concert will take place Nov. 10 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Powers Music School at 160 Lexington St. Tickets can be purchased online for $22.50.
The series aims to highlight the similarities between Turkey, Armenia, Israel, and Greece, for example. “It’s a shared culture of music tradition,” Efe said.
Efe, who moved to the United States from Turkey in 2002 and has been in Belmont since 2016, said he had been playing Turkish music for many years with different people when he and his friend, Thompson, whose work spans genres, came up with the idea.
“We just want to use the similarity and show people how the same they are, at least musically, and to promote peace,” he said.
Each installment features music from a different culture. In the first two installments, the shows featured music from Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia.
“This year, we reached out to Alireza Khodayari, a composer and master … player of traditional Iranian instruments,” Efe said.
Khodayari, a Boston-based Iranian composer and tar player, will be accompanied by Mahya Hamedi’s vocals. A tar is a long-necked, six-string lute used across multiple cultures.
Each show includes a core group of performers plus the featured musicians.
In addition to music, the program will include talks on the music and instruments being played.