In Concert: The Sounds of Desire

At the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Heather Raffo, author and actress of the award winning one woman show

9 Parts of Desire, teams up with Amir ElSaffar, accomplished Jazz trumpeter

and Iraqi santoor player, for a dramatic evening of spoken word and melodic solos. 

Using characters from the acclaimed one-woman show like slam poetry, together

they present a concert of urban and classical sounds that spring from both their

Iraqi and American roots.

Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire, described by The New Yorker as "an example of how art can remake the world", details the lives of nine ordinary and extraordinary Iraqi women. Both mythical and contemporary, the women's words weave in and out of the ancient quarter tone scales of Amir's classical

santoor and the improvisational heart of jazz, resulting in a melody decidedly Iraqi and American.

This is the first full collaboration of the two artists. Amir and Heather met soon after the Iraq war began in 2003. Both children born of Iraqi and American

parents, they naturally had a lot in common. Raised in the mid-west, both became artists with strong American influences. Yet the war would prove to be a pivotal point in their work. Both have large extended families still living in Baghdad, and their recent work reflects a vision of translating an Iraqi cultural

experience for an American ear.

Amir has performed extensively as a Jazz and Classical trumpeter with esteemed artists such as Cecil Taylor, Vijay Iyer, and Daniel Barenboim. After a

trip to Iraq in 2002, his focus shifted to the Iraqi santoor, a hammered dulcimer instrument, and the traditional music of Iraq, known as the Maqam. He has now mastered a significant portion of the Maqam repertoire, and leads Safaafir, which is the only ensemble in the US performing the Iraqi Maqam. His newest work, called Two Rivers, brings Maqam melodic structures into a modern Jazz context.  Please visit amirelsaffar.com

Heather's artistic career began as an actress. She has performed off Broadway, off West End, in regional theater and in film. In early 2001 she began work on 9 Parts of Desire. Heavily inspired by an earlier trip to see her family in Baghdad, research for 9 Parts of Desire took her deep into the Iraqi community both in and outside Iraq.

Sounds of Desire was originally created as a way to bring elements of the play 9 Parts of Desire to college campuses or for a one night event.   It travels easily as production elements are minimal.  

If you are interested in booking Sounds of Desire as an event, click here.

Heather Raffo

Actor/Playwright