They say that a person’s home is where their music plays. In the case of Iranian-born Amir Shahsar, who plays ethnic wind instruments and now lives in Israel, the idea of home is far more complex. His personal story of longing for a past homeland alongside the joy and opportunities presented by a new home resonates from every note of the Ney (an ancient Iranian flute) and other wind instruments that Shahsar juggles in his intimate and communicative solo performance, produced especially for the festival.

Shahsar, one of Israel’s leading ethnic wind musicians, performs original compositions that are tinged with Persian, Turkish, Armenian and Middle Eastern influences. His music also combines contemporary and traditional, mystic and temporal, sacred and folk.