Article content

Flamenco and Persian poetry shouldn’t meet but in Farnaz Ohadithey have.

Ohadi somehow but beautifully merged her Iranian culture and interest in Spanish music on the album Bird Dance, which gets heard in concert at the Blueshore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts, Oct. 1.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The Garage: Persian-flamenco fusion made in Vancouver Back to video

“About four or five years ago, I started thinking about mixing the Persian language with flamenco music,” Ohadi remembers. “I thought it couldn’t be done. The Persian language is so gentle and flamenco is so aggressive.

“No one had tried to merge them — flamenco and Persian,” she continues. “No one had attempted to merge the rhythms.”

Several factors changed her mind. There was her experience of an Iranian woman making a dramatic move to Vancouver that she had put into song, and her growing involvement in flamencomusic and dance. Her story and a desire to push musical boundaries reached a peak in 2012 at a concert that tested the water.