Bijan Chemirani

Born in 1979 and raised in Haute‑Provence in a family of musicians of Iranian origin, Bijan Chemirani developed early on a musical language centered on the zarb, taught by his father Djamchid Chemirani and his brother Keyvan. After experimenting with several instruments, he returned to this Persian percussion and, together with them, founded the Trio Chemirani in 1999. Bijan Chemirani’s career sits at the crossroads of Persian traditions, Mediterranean music and improvisation, characterized by a precise, highly articulated playing style attentive both to rhythmic cycles and to dialogue with strings and voices. His discography under his own name includes Gulistan (2001), Eos (2002) and Kismet (2003), three albums that already carve out an open space between Eastern repertoires and contemporary writing. He subsequently took part in several collective projects, notably Oneira, launched in 2007 and documented by Si La Mar (2009) and Tâle Yâd (2012), before releasing Imaginarium with Kevin Seddiki in 2013. He can also be heard alongside musicians such as Ross Daly, Sokratis Sinopoulos, Jean‑Guihen Queyras and Matthieu Saglio. For Bijan Chemirani, percussion is not merely rhythmic support but a genuine axis of composition and intercultural exchange.