Kayhan Kalhor returns to his classical roots

Persian music is a tapestry of richly hued, intertwining melodic and harmonic threads. Like the complex, but infinitely beautiful designs of Persian miniature paintings, it is a fascinating combination of intellect and emotion, structure and spontaneity.

Kayhan Kalhor, a virtuoso on the kamancheh (or spike fiddle, a violin-like instrument, held vertically) is one of the best-known exponents of this mesmerizing traditional music. In recent years, he has concentrated on the fusion of Persian music with other traditions, largely through his work with the Persian-Indian blendings of Ghazal, the group he founded with sitarist Shujaat Khan.

On Thursday night at the Skirball Center, however, he returned to his roots with a performance of Persian classical music exploring the complex dastgahs -- combinations of modes and melodic phrases -- that are the wellsprings for this ancient musical expression.

His musicians -- ney (end-blown bamboo flute) player Siamak Jahangiri, tar (plucked lute) player Hamid Khabazi, santur (hammered zither) player Siamak Aghaie and tombak (goblet drum) player Pedram Khavarzamini -- are members of a youthful Iranian generation eager to explore their classics from a contemporary perspective.

The evening opened with a pair of smaller combinations -- a trio of Aghaie, Khabazi and Khavarzamini and the duo of Kalhor and Aghaie. But the centerpiece of the evening was a lengthy exposition by the full ensemble of the dastgah Nava. Similar to the natural minor scale (with microtonal alteration of that scale’s sixth note), Nava flows easily for Western ears. The sequence of structural elements -- traditional melodic phrases contrast with spontaneous improvising -- created constantly shifting combinations of melody, tone color and rhythm.

Although Kalhor only rarely erupted with his signature fast-fingered virtuosity, and a few less-than-inspired ensemble passages underscored the relative youth of the players, the evening was, nonetheless, a compelling display of one of the world’s great classical music.