I wrote this piece during a period when I was travelling a great deal between the UK and Iran and had to constantly re-make myself as I moved between these very different spaces. Most often when visiting my family in Tehran, I feel like a strange mixture of British and Iranian, a member of the Iranian diaspora visiting from abroad. But there are many times when I misunderstand what is going on or find myself in an unfamiliar situation and feel completely lost; a total outsider. Equally, there are some rare occurrences when shopping with my aunt or drinking tea with my family when I feel fleetingly and momentarily like I have come home. In these instances I have a deep sense that Iran is a special place where a unique part of me lives. 

Tradition – Hybrid – Survivalis a cello concerto concerned with these shifting notions of identity. The ensemble is divided into groups labelled as ‘local’, ‘diaspora’, and ‘outsiders’ – three identity groupings that I shift between during my time in Iran. The local group represent identities that share a locality: persons of common cultural heritage who are co-present, while the diaspora group represent people of shared cultural background who are separated in space and time. The outsider group operate completely independently of the rest of the ensemble, representing vague and distant ‘others’ who drop in from nowhere and disappear again just as quickly. 

Amongst all this we have the solo cello who charts a course between these three ensemble groups, weaving in and out of the different material they present; subverting, challenging, echoing or extending it. The cello represents an individual who moves between each of these formations, never remaining entirely fixed and with the ability to draw on each of these identities at particular moments. The cello is anyone with extensive experience of change, movement or growth. I think the cello might be me (or at least a version of me that I hope I can one day come close to) but I’m still not entirely sure. 

This piece was originally commissioned by the Tehran-based string ensemble, Cantus Ensemble, but they were unable to perform it due to a financial crisis brought on by the American government pulling out of the nuclear deal and imposing new sanctions on Iran. As such, its premier took place in London in June 2019. It was performed by the Trinity Laban Contemporary Music Group and conducted by Gregory Rose.