Amir Elsaffar's Two Rivers Ensemble October 2, 2010

Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar put his New York career on hold several years ago to immerse himself in the music of his ancestry, the Iraqi Maqam. He was already an accomplished jazz and classical trumpeter. He quickly became versed in Maqam, and learned to play the santoor (Iraqi hammered dulcimer) and to sing, and he now leads the only ensemble in the US performing Iraqi Maqam, Safaafir. He has also created new techniques for the trumpet that enable microtones and ornaments that are characteristic to Arabic music but are not typically heard on a trumpet. Now, ElSaffar has turned his attention back to Jazz, and is approaching it with an Iraqi/Arabic bent. Amir ElSaffar and his sextet meld styles and seamlessly cross-pollinate the languages of ancient and modern, East and West.