Golnar & Mahan Trio by Various, De (2023/2023), Wiener Konzerthaus, Viena, Austria

Describing Golnar Shahyar is like trying to square the circle: born in Tehran in 1985, she initially studied biology at the University of Toronto. After graduating with a bachelor's degree, however, Shahyar turned to music full time. In 2008, the Iranian-Canadian artist moved to Vienna and immersed herself in the local musical life. As a composer, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, singer and also equipped with an equally strong voice on socio-political issues, she found a permanent place here and collaborated with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, among others. In 2011, she met Iranian-Austrian fretless guitarist and composer Mahan Mirarab, and since then the two have been traveling the world together musically, both literally and figuratively, with music that borrows from Southwest Asian microtonal modes, polyrhythmic grooves, European chamber music and jazz. The trio is expertly rounded out by Austrian percussionist Amir Wahba.