Online kamancha festival to bring together masters

Masters of a musical instrument family popular in many Western Asian and Eastern Mediterranean countries will come together at an online festival organized by a music school based in Istanbul.

"We are organizing an online kamancha festival. It is going to be the first international effort in this field," Arslan Hazreti, kamancha artist and crafter, told Hürriyet Daily News.

"Actually, three instruments from three countries, namely kamancha, kemane and kamancheh, are stringed instruments of the same musical family, but many people even don't know the differences between them," he added, referring to Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan.

Besides Hazreti, who is running Aler Kamancha school in Istanbul, the jury of the organization includes many prominent masters of the three instruments, such as Ali Akbar Shekarchi, Ardeshir Kamkar, Cafer Nazlıbaş, Göktuğ Çelik, Samer Habibi and Uğur Önür.

"By investing in the community's enthusiasm, hope, and spirit of solidarity, we decided to hold a worldwide online music festival," said the invitation statement of the festival.

"The merger of states of all languages, faiths and races in the cosmos has become an indispensable history. The need for friendship, unity and togetherness has not presented itself to this degree in any period. Undoubtedly, this festival is due to this need," it added, recalling that all musical events have to continue virtually because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The deadline to participate in the festival is June 4.