Itamar Erez is an Israeli-Canadian guitarist-composer (and also a pianist) who blends the delicateness of Middle Eastern music, the freedom found in jazz and the passion of flamenco in his work, and is based in Vancouver. Hamin Honari is an Iranian-Canadian percussionist-educator who has specialized in the Persian hand drums tombak and Daf. He lives too in Vancouver and is known for his ongoing work with local heroes –  guitarist-oud player Gordon Grdina and clarinetist François Houle.

Erez and Honari performed in local festivals before recording their duo album as a duo, Migrant Voices. This album documents a short, free improvised meeting of Erez and Honari that most likely would not be possible in the present-day Middle East. It was the first time that Erez recorded free improvised music and he concluded that it was an «amazing experience». The album mixes their diverse cultural influences and highlights the spontaneous interplay between guitar and percussion and the profound and immediate rapport of these gifted musicians. The album was recorded at Monarch Studios in Vancouver in December 2023.

Erez alternates between the acoustic nylon string guitar, its smaller version, requinto guitar, and the mandolin bandol, while Honari focuses on frame drums, daf and tomabk. The six duets offer delicate and emphatic conversations that correspond with the great musical legacies of the Middle East and the Mediterranean but are not bound by traditional modes or conventions. The title piece is the only piece composed by Erez, originally conceived as a solo guitar piece and later commissioned by the Sound of Dragon Ensemble of Vancouver, now arranged as a sensual, dramatic and mysterious story. The title of the following piece, «Dancing with Stardust», captures best the beautiful, poetic sensibility of this inspired meeting.

Eyal Hareuveni

Itamar Erez (nylon string guitar, requinto, bandol), Hamin Honari (frame drums, daf, tombak, various cymbals)