The three musical pioneers weave a tapestry of sound that transcends borders and defies expectations. Shabnam Parvaresh, Sofia Labropoulou, and Korhan Erel, each a master of their craft, come together to create an experience that is as diverse as it is captivating. Through Parvaresh’s evocative bass clarinet with effects, Labropoulou’s innovative and enchanting kanun, and Erel’s visionary electronics, they breathe new life into the rich traditions of Iran, Greece, and Turkey, seamlessly blending folk, contemporary, and experimental influences. Their music takes on a dynamic energy, inviting audiences to embrace the chaos and find beauty in the unexpected, where every note is a testament to the power of collaboration and the boundless possibilities of sound.
Shabnam Parvaresh is a clarinetist, visual artist and curator from Tehran, Iran. She studied fine arts in Tehran and then began her musical career after studying clarinet privately in the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. She left Iran in 2013 to study jazz clarinet at the Osnabrück Institute of Music. In her musical work, she pursues an explorative approach that combines elements from Persian music with electronic sounds, improvised music and jazz to create a new musical aesthetic on the clarinet. In 2020 she founded her Sheen Trio, whose debut album Gozar was released in spring 2023 on Berthold Records. She is also involved in numerous other projects and has played at the Cologne Jazzweek, the Moers Festival, the Tehran Contemporary Music Festival and the Multiphonics Festival. In addition to her work as a musician, she is the curator of the concert series for improvised and experimental music Klangfenster in der hase29. As a visual artist, she realized solo exhibitions of her paintings in Tehran, Osnabrück and the U.A.E. and was nominated for the Osnabrück Art Prize in 2022.
Sofia Labropoulou is a kanun player, composer and improviser who has developed a distinct sound from masterfully blending the worlds of folk, classical Ottoman, western Medieval, experimental and contemporary music. Classically trained with piano and percussion since age of eight, it was instant love when she first encountered the kanun almost a decade later. With her Byzantine music diploma in hand she moved to Istanbul in 2003 to pursue her love of the kanun and study Ottoman music. As a soloist, she collaborates with renowned composers, musicians, and orchestras from all over the world, she composes music and presents kanun and Greek folk music master classes worldwide. Her first personal album Sisyphus was released in December 2020 by Odradek Records. She currently lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
Korhan Erel is a non-binary electronic musician, improviser, composer, and sound designer based in Berlin. Erel plays electronic instruments, composes, and designs sounds for ensembles, dance, theater, and video. Erel utilizes electronics as both an instrument and a tool for composition and sound design, combining field recordings, found sounds, synthesizers, and many others to create instruments for improvisation and composed music. Erel performs solo concerts as well as with ensembles such as Ephemeral Fragments, Böseblick, Only With You, and Pep Talk. Erel has performed numerous concerts in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Turkey, and the United States. Erel has released twelve albums with various musicians and groups, as well as two solo albums in digital format.
