When I set foot on Canadian soil at the age of fourteen to settle with my family, I was carrying in my suitcases my sétar and the desire to become a musician and composer.

Having started learning music in Iran, I continued my musical training in Montreal, in particular with Kayhan Kalhor, who later became one of my accomplices on stage.

I’ve always been guided by the desire to draw on my roots and be inspired by the music of other cultures and eras to invent something new.

It was during a conversation with one of my dear friends that the name of our ensemble was born. Constantinople is a perfect symbol of this space of encounters, this link between the West and the East, which I wanted to put at the heart of my music.