ABOUT

Uniting distant cultures and blurring the lines between geography and music, Chris Stephens brings listeners on a voyage across the globe with a collection of traditional stringed instruments from the Silk Road. A former sitar student of Ustad Imrat Khan-sahab, Chris seeks to find a common sound between Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Chinese music. The instruments in the collection are all relatives in the Lute family: Sitar, Oud, Tar, Bağlama, and the Chinese Pipa and Chris performs each according to its distinct musical tradition of Raga, Maqam, Dastgah, Taksim, and Wen, respectively. Switching between instruments and weaving a tapestry of ancient composition and fresh improvisation, one feels the borders between us are transcended.