[playing kamancheh] the instrument kamancheh, in musicological terms, they call it "spike fiddle." [speaking in farsi] what you do on kamancheh, unlike, uh, you know, many handheld, uh, fiddles in western culture, you--you hold the instrument with your left hand, and you turn it, and the--the--the right hand just bows in one direction, but the instrument has to turn, uh, to enable you to--to access different strings. [playing scales] so this--this makes, um, the left hand in kamancheh kind of unstable, you know, to use, because, um, you hold the instrument, you finger and you turn the instrument. so the left hand does three different things. [speaking in farsi] one can control the tension of the bow with the right hand fingers and, uh, when you want less sound, the hair is looser, and then, at the same time, you can pull it more and get more sound out of it. as i grew with kamancheh, you know, this--this love for that--that kind of sound grows more and more and more as i age. so it's a very special and soulful sound for me that, uh, helps me go through different stages in my life.

[playing kamancheh] the instrument kamancheh, in musicological terms, they call it "spike fiddle." [speaking in farsi] what you do on kamancheh, unlike, uh, you know, many handheld, uh, fiddles in western culture, you--you hold the instrument with your left hand, and you turn it, and the--the--the right hand just bows in one direction, but the instrument has to turn, uh, to enable you to--to access different strings. [playing scales] so this--this makes, um, the left hand in kamancheh kind of unstable, you know, to use, because, um, you hold the instrument, you finger and you turn the instrument. so the left hand does three different things. [speaking in farsi] one can control the tension of the bow with the right hand fingers and, uh, when you want less sound, the hair is looser, and then, at the same time, you can pull it more and get more sound out of it. as i grew with kamancheh, you know, this--this love for that--that kind of sound grows more and more and more as i age. so it's a very special and soulful sound for me that, uh, helps me go through different stages in my life.