Kamran Hooshmand

Oud, Santour

Kamran Hooshmand was born in Tehran, Iran, and has been residing and making music in the US since 1978. He holds a masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies with a concentration in ethnomusicology from the University of Texas at Austin. He has contributed music to the award-winning interactive CD-ROM, Nile: Passage To Egypt, produced by Human Code; the documentary film, The Road to Peace; and for dance and theatre including Oscar Wilde's play, Salome, and has been featured on NPR and BBC. He has studied & performed with masters of Persian classical music Ostad Mohammad Reza Lotfi and Dr. Mojtaba Khoshzamir, and has guest lectured on Middle Eastern music in area schools and colleges. He founded 1001 Nights Orchestra in the late 1980s to expose Austinites to the beautiful music and cultures of the Middle East. The highlight of the orchestra's performance has been their award-winning original score and accompaniment to the 1924 silent Thief of Bagdad which was featured at Austin's Paramount Theatre to a sold-out audience. Among the numerous stringed and percussion instruments that he plays are the oud (barbat), an 11-stringed ancestor of the European lute, and the Persian santour, a 72-stringed hammered dulcimer. Besides performing with his ensemble, Mr. Hooshmand performs with Texas Early Music Project's Medieval Ensemble and the Persian-Spanish group Ojala which he also co-founded. His self-produced CDs have been on the top-10 charts of the Austin Chronicle and are available online or at his live performances.