Araz Salek began playing the tar from an early age in Tehran, Iran. He continued his studies under several acknowledged master tar players: Hooshang Zarif, Arshad Tahmasebi. Salek began teaching tar at several private music schools in Tehran in 2000, and went on to teach at the University of Tehran and Sharif University.

Since moving to Toronto in 2005, Salek has taught at several local music schools, and has been a guest teacher at the University of Alberta and the Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Crete. In 2017 he co-founded Labyrinth Musical Workshop Ontario, where he serves as Artistic Director, providing opportunity for education and presentation of modal music traditions in the Toronto area. He has performed at major venues in the Toronto region, elsewhere in Canada, in Iran and across Europe.

Since 2012 he has been part of the Toronto / Crete quartet “This tale of ours,” with Pedram Khavarzamini, Kelly Thoma, and Ross Daly. He leads the Shiraz Ensemble, the Iranian Modal Music Ensemble of Toronto, is a member of Persian-flamenco fusion group Persamenco, and performs often in other settings, experimenting with new groupings and forms. He has appeared on several recordings and in 2008 released a critically well-received solo album, Birth.

Artistic Director

ARAZ

SALEK

Jonathan Adjemian does a few things; these include making and promoting music; translating, editing, and teaching books; and organizing small-scale cultural events.

He has recorded albums with Jennifer Castle and US Girls, among others, and made music for dance works by artists including Amanda Acorn, Meryem Alaoui, Nova Bhattacharya, and others.

He is the translator of Souleymane Bachir Diagne's Open to Reason: Muslim Philosophers in Conversation with the Western Tradition (Columbia University Press), and recently co-edited Line Bridge Body, an anthology of writing on somatic thinking and practice. 

Admin Director

JONATHAN

ADJEMIAN