Name: 3RD EAR Presents: A Night of Persian, Greek & Indian Music with Donya Reeza
Start: 2025-01-24T19:30:00-08:00
Location: 2820 Seventh Street, Berkeley, 94710, US

3RD EAR Presents: A Night of Persian, Greek & Indian Music with Donya Reeza

Join us for an evening of Indian, Greek, Persian, and Turkish traditional music. Co-led by Alexander Karvelas and Mazyar Karandish, Donya Reeza will breathe life into the traditional repertoires of these cultures, celebrating their distinct roots, weaving their common threads, and inspiring diverse audiences to appreciate their enduring beauty.
Sliding scale $25-$45
Doors at 7:30pm, show at 8pm
Donya Reeza is a music project devoted to the modal traditions of North India, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Co-founded in 2017 by Alexander Karvelas and Mazyar Karandish, this collective presents repertoires of North Indian, Persian, Turkish, and Greek music. Building on years of intensive study under master musicians, the members of Donya Reeza weave a sonic tapestry of cross-cultural inspiration with the mission of promoting and celebrating the vitality of these diverse music traditions, their storied legacies, and their living communities.
Maz Karandish studied sitar in the Etowa gharana lineage under Shujat Khan, his disciple Nasir Syed, and Ramprapanna Bhattacharya and other major exponents. Alexander Karvelas studied in the Maihar gharana lineage at the Ali Akbar College of Music and under Joanna Mack, Bruce Hamm, and other teachers. Both Maz and Alexander received initial training in sitar under renowned ethnomusicologist Scott Marcus, who also served on Alexander's dissertation committee for his PhD in ethnomusicology. Both Maz and Alexander has also studied Hindustani vocal technique and repertoire extensively under several different teachers including Shakti Mishra (son of Pasupati Nath Mishra of Banaras), Rik Masterson (major discipline of Pandit Pran Nath of the Kirana gharana), and others. Josh Mellinger is a longtime student of the world renowned tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.
This event is part of the Alembic's 3RD EAR series. 3RD EAR is a series of music and sound events and discussions held at the Berkeley Alembic. Curated by Erik Davis and Sam Plattner , 3RD EAR will explore ambient soundscapes, field recordings, experimental electronica, sacred noise, cosmic drones, sonic manipulations, and Old World improvisations. Hearing is a thing that just happens, but listening is a practice: a way of exploring and meditating on sensation, mind, and the vibratory cosmos around us.