• Monday 13 December 2010 - 20h30

Abdulvali Abdurashidov, master of the Tajik shashmaqams, sounds his tanbur as a call to memory.

At the heart of the classic musical lore of Tajikistan, Abdulvali Abdurashidov plays the fundamental role of testifying to the tradition and passing on his knowledge. A great tanbur virtuoso and recognized scholar in the maqams of central Asia, he created, almost ten years ago, the Shashmaqam Academy in Doushanbe. His technique, which has nourished the learned music of his country for many years, meets the demands of a practice which includes poetry, prosody, metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics. Decorated Commander of the Arts and Letters in Paris in 2005, this season Abdulvali comes back to the Théâtre des Abbesses, accompanied by two talented youngsters: the Iranian Pasha Hanjani, who has become a master of the ney, and one of the very first students at the Academy, the Tajik Sirogiddin Jurayev, for whom the plectrum-struck strings of his dotar no longer hold any secrets. 

Jérôme Louis