Tehran-born setar lute grandmaster Kiya Tabassian knows his stuff. In 1990, he left Iran for Montreal, where he founded the Constantinople ensemble, which is a bridge primarily between Western and Eastern traditions. However, Kiya searches for and finds unexpected connections in the South as well.
For the Traversées project, he approached the singer and top kora, African lute player, Ablay Cissok. This native of Kolda, Senegal, carries the thousand-year-old tradition of Mandingo Africa, just as Kiya carries the Persian tradition. Together, they look at the very roots of music, where folk art meets author's art. In this context, let us recall Saints Simon and Jude, who also traveled through Africa and Persia two thousand years ago.