The group's name, Sarband, stems from Persian and Arabic, and denotes to an improvised coupling of two parts within a musical suite. Vladimir Ivanoff founded Ensemble Sarband in 1986 and has been pursuing an archaeology of complex connections ever since. Above all, Sarband endeavours to show all possible connections between European, Islamic and Jewish music-culture. Both sensitively and intensely, Sarband celebrates the symbiotic relationship between the Orient and the Occident.
The continuous musical collaboration within the Ensemble ensures that a dialogue on equal terms is maintained. It is the exchange of practical musical experience between musicians from different cultures that make the performances of Sarband gripping, lively and authentic.
Sarband's unique repertoire has won them wide acclaim internationally. Over the past few years Sarband has recorded numerous CDs and performed at many international festivals.
Sarband's musicians do not see their work as something sporadic but as a part of being and living. Just as religious, economic, cultural and political differences between the Orient and the Occident play a predominant role in today's society, Sarband's music endeavours to show that music has always served as communication in which people found reciprocal respect for each other and could easily contribute in the process of relating in the same way today. Uniting people around the world, offering mutual recognition towards each other, in other words, music as an example for peace. —Courtesy Calabash Music
