Houbara - Resonanzen Iran 2026 | Tag #2

w/ Ensemble Chakâm | Avin Ahmadi | Delaram Kafashzadeh Quintet

On the second day, Houbara - Resonances Iran also offers a platform for current contemporary voices from the region. Curator Sophie Emilie Beha and co-curator Mona Matbou Riahi focus on current and boundary-breaking music that touches, connects and opens up new ways of listening. Houbara sees itself as an invitation to listen together, exchange ideas and discover new perspectives.

On the Sunday of the festival, the Ensemble Chakâm continues the dialog: named after an ancient Persian poetic form, it unfolds a musical language of string instruments 'talking' to each other, finely nuanced sound prose and intense arcs of tension. Avin Ahmadi transforms the Green Room into a floating, intimate world in between with her poetic songs. At the end of the festival, the Delaram Kafashzadeh Quintet will present a concert that is as poetic as it is energetic - firmly rooted in jazz and at the same time deeply connected to the classical Persian heritage.
The concerts will be framed by a short film program curated by Visions of Iran.

Program Day #2
31.05.2026

16:00 | Concert hall
Iranian Short Films: Choreographies of Resistance (admission free)
In Iran, where it has long been forbidden for women to sing or dance in public, music and movement mostly take place in private spaces and underground networks - and only rarely in public, but always as acts of resistance. In this short film program (documentary, animation, experimental and feature films), sound, song and dance emerge not only as aesthetic forms of expression, but also as testimony to the presence of an absence. Through their voices and bodies, women lend form to a choreography of resistance in which gesture, rhythm and voice carry stories that resist silence.
The short film program was curated by Ghasideh Golmakani as part of a cooperation with the Iranian film festival Visions of Iran. The films are in the original language with English subtitles.

18:00 | Concert hall
Ensemble Chakâm
The ensemble Chakâm, named after an ancient Persian poetic form, unfolds a musical language of dialoging string instruments, delicate prose and haunting verse. The three musicians build on the classical foundations of the Persian, Arabic and Baroque repertoire, in which intense rhythmic passages give way to lively melodic outbursts. The trio also sets their own life situations to music: the longing for homelands left behind early, the feeling of being uprooted and the memories of places that only live on in music - but also the tireless vitality of experience, discovery and new beginnings.

19:00 | Green Room
Avin Ahmadi
Oud player, singer and improviser Avin Ahmadi, born in 2004, grew up with an instrument that is often underestimated and reduced to narrow role models. She questions these traditional limitations and explores musical paths that have hardly been explored to date. In this way, she has developed a clearly recognizable, personal style in which singing and oud playing are inextricably interwoven. Her solo project Qayeq presents an independent fusion of Persian and jazz influences and combines original compositions with selected traditional Persian soundscapes.

20:00 | Concert hall
Delaram Kafashzadeh Quintet
Rooted in jazz and characterized by rhythmic complexity, the Delaram Kafashzadeh Quintet combines its classical training with Persian musical heritage to create an unmistakable, deeply personal sound. The music reflects moments from Kafashzadeh's own artistic journey - the small, intimate moments of everyday life, fleeting inspirations that have something magical for her. Her music combines elements of classical music, improvisation, poetry and complex rhythmic structures, reflecting a deep interest in the interplay of language, rhythm and sound.

The Houbara, by the way, is an Iranian endemic migratory bird that is threatened with extinction. The title also refers to "The Conference of the Birds" (منطق الطیر) by Fariduddin Attar - a great mystical poem that is one of the most important works of Persian literature. It describes the pilgrimage of thousands of birds of the world in search of an ideal king. In the end, thirty birds remain - and realize that they themselves are the king they are looking for.

Here is the program for day #1