German ensemble Sarband.
The Ensemble Sarband stands for connection - and, indeed, the name itself is a word which stems from Oriental music theory and denotes the improvised linking of two compositions within a musical suite. Musical director Dr. Vladimir Ivanoff, who founded Sarband in 1986, connects cultures, people and epochs, as both a scholar and a musician: His programmes unite musicians from widely different cultures and backgrounds and mediate between past and present, Early Music and living traditions.
In the world of Sarband, musicians from Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Sweden, China, Great Britain, Japan, Italy and Germany perform together. The cooperation in the ensemble is not merely a fashionable crossover, but conceived as a continuous dialogue on equal terms. All artists unrestrictedly contribute their native traditions, their personal histories and their own creativity to the programmes.
While today the religious, economic, cultural and political differences between the Orient and Occident are the focus of public attention, Sarband endeavours to show that music was always not mere decoration, but an enlightened means of mutual respect and can still be that in the present: an example for understanding and acceptance, a model of peace.