Mohammad, who came to Halifax, NS in 2017, is a musician and ethnomusicologist originally from Iran, where he graduated with a BA in Music and an MA in Ethnomusicology, as well as an accounting degree and an MBA. He is a multi-instrumentalist (Tar, Setar, Dotar, Daff and Robab) and his composition and performance are focused on the music of Middle East and Central Asia.
Mohammad has traveled internationally, researching the music of each country he has visited and collecting more than 60 different and unusual musical instruments. His aim is to establish Canada’s first music museum in Halifax, and he has taken the first step towards that goal with the World Music Museum, a registered non-profit with a board of seven well-known musicians and businessmen from the area.
Within just a few months of his arrival in Canada, Mohammad and his friends had formed Open Borders, a group of 30 international musicians. In the last two years he has organized three concerts with Open Borders, performing global music and as well as his own compositions. He also founded a second group, Tillit.
He and his bands have played in various venues including the Jazz Festival, Obey Festival, Upstream, Multicultural Festival, Feast Festival, and in the Iranian and Indian Festivals. He has also performed with the Rumi ensemble throughout Nova Scotia. And he has resurrected the idea of live music during silent movies, collaborating with both Dalhousie and Kings Universities.
In addition to performance, composition, and arranging, Mohammad also teaches and holds master classes and workshops about the music of various countries.
