Persian Quartet:
Sina Ettehad, Marjan Alekhamis, Mohammad Amini – kamancheh & kamancheh alto
Babak Banihoseini – percussion

World Premiere:
“Concerto Etude” – Tim Brady composer, for erhu and fixed media

Crossbridge Strings:
Lan Tung – erhu (Chinese fiddle) & vocal 
Sutrisno Hartana – rebab & suling (Indonesian fiddle & flute), vocal
Sina Ettehad– kamancheh (Iranian fiddle)  
Meredith Bates & Joshua Zubot – violin
James Meger – bass

“Have Bow Will Travel takes audiences on a sonic tour around the globe with five bowed string instruments”

“let local residents range across the Pacific to Java, northeast to Taiwan, along the Silk Road to Persia, and then to Cremona, Italy, before returning home again—and all for little more than the cost of a concert ticket and the SkyTrain fare downtown”. – Alex Varty, Stir Magazine

“多元文化弓弦樂巡禮音樂會 中國波斯印尼胡琴同場較勁” –星島日報 中文介紹

Erhu (Chinese) 二胡
Originated in Central Asia and introduced to China more than one thousand years ago, the erhu 二胡 belongs to the large family of stick fiddles that are found in many countries. Xiqin 奚琴 was the first bowed instrument mentioned in Chinese literature in Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). It is believed to be the precursor of the erhu. Xiqin was also called huqin 胡琴. The erhu is usually made of ebony, sandalwood or rosewood, with a snakeskin resonator. The folk versions vary in the shapes and materials of the sound boxes. The bow is made of bamboo stick and horse hair. Since 1960s, the strings are  made of steel, learning from the violin and replacing the silk strings from the ancient time. A popular instrument in solo and ensemble music, erhu’s expressive sound resembles the human voice. Its traditional repertoire is deeply rooted in the vocal and opera traditions.

Kamancheh (Persian) 
The kamancheh (or kamanche) has a long neck including fingerboard. The bowl-shaped resonating chamber is made from a gourd or wood, usually covered with a membrane made from the skin of a lamb, goat or sometimes a fish, on which the bridge is set. The kamancheh used to have three silk strings, but the modern instruments have four metal strings. It is widely used in the classical music of Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with slight variations in the structure.
“kamancheh” = “little bow” in Persian (kæman, bow, and -cheh, diminutive)

Rebab (Arabic: ربابة‎, rabāba, variously spelled rebap, rubob, rebeb, rababa, rabeba, robab, rubab, rebob, etc) is the name of several related bowed (but sometimes plucked) string instruments that independently spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. It is one of the earliest known bowed instruments, named no later than the 8th century, and is the parent of many bowed and stringed instruments.

The Indonesian rebab is a two-string bowed instrument with a wooden body, traditionally made with a single coconut shell. The strings are tuned a fifth apart, and the horse hair bow is tied loosely (unlike modern Western stringed instruments) with the proper tension controlled by the players. In gamelan music, the rebab does not have to conform exactly to the scale of the other instruments and can be played in relatively free time, finishing its phrases after the beat of the gong ageng (the big gong that “rules” the ensemble).