Central Asian Festival Featuring Axiom of Choice, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Pejman Hadadi, and Shabaz

“Near Easter art music." This is how Los Angeles-based Axiom of Choice describes their intensely haunting sound. Deeply rooted in the rhythms of Radi-Persian classical music- it is a sound that fuses elements of Western and Indian styles to create progressive, deeply moving music. When wedded with lead singer Mamak Khademn's rich vocal textures, Atom of Choice becomes an experience that will leave you speechless Omar Faruk Tekbilek injects Sufi spirituality, African rhythms, and traditional Turkish folk music with Western jazz elements to speak to his audience. This Turkish-born master of the ney (a traditional flute with origins in Iran) is a world traveler whose mission is to use his music as a positive, healing influence. Pejman Madadi is one of the finest Iranian percussionists living in the United States. He is a virtuoso performer whose modern approach to the tombak (a traditional chalice-shaped drum from Iran) creates new musical dimensions when fused with western rhythms. San Francisco-based Shabaz rounds out the evening with its "sound for the 21st century.” Their music relies on the traditional Qawwall sound as its bedrock but blends a potent potpourri of Pakistani music with other genres, which include dub, reggae, electronica, dance music, North and West African rhythms, and western rock, It's a musical feast.