THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDS

836M is pleased to announce a return to the Golden Gate Park Bandshell in a presentation of The Language of the Birds. Commissioned by 836M, The Language of the Birds is a project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Sahba Aminikia. It premiered last spring at 836M with a libretto by Zara Houshmand, who also performs, together with members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the Living Earth Show, percussionist David Coulter, and Persian singer Marjan Vahdat.

Based on a 12th-century masterpiece of Persian Sufi literature, The Language of the Birds tells the story of a gathering of birds who meet as a senate to choose their leader. In a co-presentation with Illuminate, The Language of the Birds will be performed in a concert version on Friday, May 2 at 4:45 p.m. A half-hour before, 836M will host a fireside chat with Aminikia, Houshmand and San Francisco Girls Chorus Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe on the Bandshell stage. Admission is free with no RSVP.

Aminikia is an Iranian-born composer, musician and educator based in San Francisco. His work has been widely performed around the world – from SFJAZZ to Carnegie Hall – with commissions by ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Akron Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, International Contemporary Ensemble and the Living Earth Show, among many others. Aminikia is also the founder and artistic director of the Flying Carpet Festival, a mobile music festival for children living in conflict zones.

The Language of the Birds is Aminikia’s third collaboration with Houshmand. Her original libretto will be sung in both Farsi and English, and Houshmand also performs the role of “the hoopoe” bird.

Over his career, Aminikia has worked with the renowned San Francisco Girls Chorus and the Living Earth Show on many occasions. For this project, approximately 30 performers will play a variety of birds, and the Living Earth Show’s Travis Andrews and Andy Meyerson, joined by British multi-instrumentalist David Coulter, will perform on guitar and a variety of percussion instruments.

Vahdat, a virtuoso interpreter of vocal traditions from classical and regional folk music from across Iran, joins the ensemble. Her third solo album, Our Garden is Alone, was recently released to great fanfare, topping the transglobal world music chart.

“My motivation for taking up this work is very personal,” said Aminikia. “The whole point of the poem, as I see it, is to emphasize the unity of mankind, though it also shows the obstacles that prevent people from talking to one another, that prevent dialogue. At a time of intense public polarization and political conflict, the message of The Language of the Birds is not lost on me. Its wisdom is both timeless and timely.”