The Persian American Cultural Center
Houman Pourmedhi, Artistic Mentor in
Persian Percussion
The Persian American Cultural Center, Berkeley, received $9,500 for an artistic mentorship with Houman Pourmedhi, a Persian musician and composer from Los Angeles. Mr. Pourmedhi will teach percussion to youth at the Albany Persian School. Older students will learn the tonbak (goblet shaped drum) while younger students will study the daf (frame drum). The youngest students will learn basic rhythms using bells, sticks, and clapping. All of the students will come together to form a percussion group and they will have the opportunity to perform before an audience of five hundred at the Norooz (Persian New Year) Festival in Berkeley in March 2005.
Mr. Pourmedhi was introduced to Persian music by his father and received his first tonbak at the age of three. He studied tonbak in Iran at the Center for Preservation and Propagation of National Music. He then studied daf with masters from the Ghaderi Sufi order, and Ney (Persian Reed Pipe) with Mohammad Ali Kianey-Nejad. After moving to the United States he founded the Society for the Advancement and Preservation of Traditional Persian Music, and co-founded the Liän Ensemble. He continues to perform with the Liän Ensemble at venues throughout North America, Europe, and North Africa.
Contact Information
Persian American Cultural Center
1541 Parker Street
Berkeley, Ca 94703
(510) 644-1780
kamrang@earthlink.net
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