Vaak is a Persian word for ‘the vibrations of vocal chords’. At Vaak East, the first festival of its kind, seven different live acts are brought together for the first time for London’s largest single showcase of Iranian diasporic music yet.
Taking advantage of Rich Mix’s heritage as an inclusive venue that celebrates both East London and the city’s global community, Vaak East is the perfect chance to share and experience cutting edge contemporary Iranian music.
You can book via the BOOK NOW button to attend both the events running over two days, or book for each day individually below.
Line-up:
Kourosh Kanani Trio:Cosmic, immersive sounds, steeped in Persian folk and woven with South Indian rhythms. Prepare to be spellbound by the Kourosh Kanani Trio. The chemistry between the musicians (with Matt Davies on drums and Dave O’Brien on bass) forms a magical dynamic that brings the pilgrimatic compositional style of Kanani to life in a vivid way. For Vaak East they will be playing some new experiences featuring Shohreh Khatoon and Parham Bahadoran.
Kourosh Kanani Instagram/kry Trio:Kry Trio’s eccentric blend of avant-garde jazz and electronica leaves it almost totally untethered from any single genre and defying categorisation. Conceived in Vienna by Mona Matbou Riahi, Philipp Kienberger and Alexander Yannilos, /kry’s sound is a revelry of simplicity and intuition, a celebration of complexity and control and an intricate fusion of its members’ individual styles.
/kry Trio InstagramGolnar & Mahan Trio:Offering a masterful and fresh approach to the art of musical storytelling, Golnar & Mahan Trio draw together elements of contemporary jazz, Southwest Asian microtonal modes, poly-rhythmic grooves, European chamber and experimental music to create an original sound. The trio (consisting of Golnar Shahyar, Mahan Mirarab and Amir Wahba) improvises its way through structured compositions, powerful grooves and most delicate sounds in such masterful ways that one can hardly notice the complexity of their music.
Line-up:
Phemo Quartet:
Creating a new musical language, in association with memory, has always been the front matter for the Phemo Quartet. Its current line-up includes Ashkan Layegh (piano) , Sam Norris (alto saxophone), Harry Ling (drums), and Gonçalo Maia Caetano (bass). Diverse background of the personnel, makes Phemo’s sound a collision of various musical forces, such as: Progressive Rock of 70s, Traditional Persian Music, Modal Jazz of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, 60’s Avant-Garde, and Swiss Contemporary Music.
Roya Arab Trio:
Roya Arab first released music as a member of Archive on Londinium in 1996. She then collaborated with various artists including Zend Avesta, Groove Rider, Mike Figgis, and Leila Arab. For ‘Vaak East’ Roya Arab will delve into her songbook with gifted multi-instrumentalist composers, Pouya Mahmoodi and Phil Davies.
Azarine Trio:
Classically trained, Paris-based Iranian pianist Arshid Azarine played a key role in the rebirth of Persian Jazz at the end of the 1990s. For Vaak East, he returns to London with his established trio featuring Habib Meftah (percussion, vocals) and Hervé de Ratuld (bass), to present a preview of his new project “Vorticity” (yet to be released). They will be joined occasionally by guests, guitarist-singer Pooya Mahmoudi and Roya Arab.
Habiboo:
Habib Meftah Boushehri creates music that’s an energetic, breathless and mesmerising tribute to his birthplace of Bushehr — a port city in southern Iran that’s defined by the Persian, African and Arab cultures that have made their mark on its people over centuries. His performance at Rich Mix includes his latest project with Rouzbeh Esfandarmaz fusing EDM with southern Iranian music.
Vaak Records Website / Vaak Records Instagram
