'Right now, people sing it on the streets': Halifax concert to pay tribute to Iranian protesters

When Mohammad Sahraei moved to Nova Scotia in 2017, he brought only a few of the dozens of instruments he had collected from around the world. He's slowly been regathering his collection and has created a Miniature Music Museum on wheels to take his show on the road. 

This Saturday at 6 p.m. AT, he and his group, Nava Ensemble, will play a special event at St. David Church on Grafton Street in Halifax. Iran has been swept by nationwide protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by the country's morality police over her clothing.

Sahraei said that prompted some important changes to the show. 

He spoke to CBC Radio's Rose Murphy. The following has been edited for clarity and length.

We're sitting here in your living room/studio and we are surrounded by incredibly beautiful instruments hanging on the walls, on racks on the floor. Can you tell me a little bit about where all these instruments have come from and what you're doing with them?

These are from all around the world. I'm a graduate in ethno-musicology so I travelled to different countries, even stayed there to learn their music. I decided when I travelled to different countries, it's a good idea to buy some of their instruments so I could have a collection of them. I have some instruments from Africa, from east China, South Korea, Japan, India, Middle East, and even Western culture. I have an old harp, bagpipes, Aboriginal flute and hand drums.

How many instruments do you think you have?

Here I have more than 100 instruments. The rest are still in Iran. Whenever I go to Iran, or my friends come from Iran, I ask them, 'Please bring some instruments for me.' I come with maybe five, six, seven instruments on my shoulder.

With all these instruments, you have created a mobile, miniature music museum. Can you tell me a little bit about that project?

At the beginning, I tried to establish a museum in Halifax as a permanent location, but I couldn't find a good venue. So I decided I should travel and maybe take my instruments, and more people will have the opportunity to see my instruments and know more about them.

Listen to Mohammad Sahraei discuss his collection of instruments with CBC Radio's Rose Murphy:

I have a camper van, so I took all the instruments with me and travelled to different cities and stayed there: art galleries, universities, libraries. I hang them on the wall and have a description for each instrument. And during that exhibition — maybe it's three days, one week — I play the instruments during the day and we have some workshops, master classes, and at the end, we have some performances with my different bands. Sometimes I invite local musicians to play. 

What are a few of the most unusual or most precious instruments that you have here?

I love all of them. For me, all of them are precious. But I can say the robab, it's from Afghanistan, and that one is really old and the skin on it is a camel skin and it has 23 strings.  

How did you come to have it?

I was there to visit a very famous master. I was learning from him and he said this instrument is very old, from [his] grandfather. He said his son is addicted to opium, and he's afraid when he passes away maybe he would sell it for drugs. [He said] 'So I know you can care for this instrument,' and as a gift, he gave it to me. It's for five generations, so more than 182 years old. 

From the bottom to top, it's like a tall pyramid and it's empty, with lots of resonance. The bowl is covered by the skin of a camel and on the neck they carved and put some bones of camels on the neck. 

We're talking today because of this concert that's happening this weekend. Could you tell me what you have planned for the show?

It's an Iranian classical and traditional music concert. We planned it two months ago, but because of the current situation of Iran, we decided to change our plans, so now it's two parts. The first part is classical and traditional Iranian music and the second part, we chose some songs to support the protesters in Iran. Some of the songs are old and were used in different revolutions in Iran in the past, and one of them is new; right now, people sing it on the streets. 

We try a lot, specifically my students, they try hard, for you to share our culture. We want to share our musical culture with you. So if you like the taste of Iranian music, please come and join us. 

And I hope I can take more invitations from different cities or art galleries. If you think you have a good venue for an exhibition, I'm really happy to be there and share my knowledge and my instruments and my music with you and your community. 

You still have family and friends in Iran. What are you hearing from them?

All of my family are in Iran right now, and most of my friends. They have a really bad situation. We don't have lots of news from them. We cannot call them because the internet is shut down. I cannot catch them easily, but sometimes I can talk to them for two or three minutes, to my mom and my brother and my sister and my friends. 

What are they telling you it's like there now? 

It's not even safe. They go out, my niece goes to school, and they decided maybe she shouldn't go to school because they even attacked a school. When I called one of my friends, I could hear shooting. They shoot two people. They don't care if they are kids, or women, or whatever. It's not safe, and lots of stress, full time.