Come to our night of Kurdish, Persian, Irish and Scottish tunes fundraising for medical supplies to northern Syria (Rojava).

The Voice of Santur (with Peyman Heydarian and Elaha Soroor) as well as the SOAS Ceilidh Band are performing.

Tickets are £7 on the door, or £5 if you register in advance through eventbrite and show us your booking on the evening.

The artists:

Elaha Soroor is a London based Singer/Songwriter and animator from Afghanistan. Her music, deeply rooted in the Afghan folk tradition, is a beautiful combination of traditional and modern sounds with influences spanning from Middle Eastern folk traditions to jazz, flamenco, pop and electronica. Elaha's music represents the young generation in Afghanistan, who have a deep pride in their own culture and identity and yet also have a strong desire for change and innovation. Her powerful, conscious lyrics often address themes such as immigration, war, gender and love.

Listen to Elaha here https://soundcloud.com/soroor-elaha
Her facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Elaha-soroor-148792005186081/

Peyman Heydarian, born in Shiraz, Iran is an award-winning music scientist and santur and daf virtuoso. He has adopted innovative tuning systems and performance techniques in order to play a multi-ethnic repertoire on the instruments. Peyman started playing music at the age of four, and learned Persian and Kurdish music under the supervision of music virtuosos, such as Mojtaba Mirzadeh and Pashang Kamkar. His main instrument is the santur, and he has developed his own performance style on the instrument.

Peyman began teaching music at the age of eight, and from 2001 to 2004 lectured on santur performance at the Faculty of Arts, Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran. He was a lecturer in music technology at London Metropolitan University [2006-12], taught santur to MMus students at City University [2008-9] and has been teaching santur and Persian music at the School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS] since January 2010.

Peyman has established and presided over a number of musical societies and bands, including the Music Association of Iranian Students (1998) and the National Iranian Students Orchestra (1999-2004). Since 1982, he has been performing solo and group music in Iran, USA, Canada, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Hong Kong and the UK.

Listen to Peyman's music here: www.thesantur.com
His fan page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/santurista

The SOAS Ceilidh Band is a collective of musicians based in and around the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. They play the traditional music of Ireland and the British Isles, but are also open to music from around the world. They incorporate Greek, Turkish, Kurdish and Italian dance music into their own.

Listen to their music here: https://www.youtube.com/user/SoasCeilidhBand/videos
Their facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soasceilidhband/timeline?ref=page_internal