Iranian singer is about removing barriers

Khadem said she’s been criticized for singing traditional Persian music to begin with and then to have the audacity to modify it. The first criticism is based on gender, because she’s a woman.

“In Iran, female vocalists are not allowed, for religious reasons. But they’re allowed to play instruments. So in a sense I’m doing music and singing and I’m breaking gender rules,” Khadem said in a phone interview from her home in Los Angeles.

	Mamak Khadem WHEN: 8 tonight WHERE: Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE HOW MUCH: $20 in advance, $25 day of show at www.ampconcerts.org or at Hold My Ticket, 210 Second SW, or by calling 886-1251 or at the door

The second criticism came because “traditionalists are usually against change. In that sense, for me taking the step to make modifications so I could connect to a bigger audience was a very risky thing for me to do.”

One of the changes Khadem made was inviting nontraditional Persian instruments in her performances. “For example I’ve been using an upright bass and a saxophone in my bands.”

Now, she said, her blending of instruments is less offensive to traditionalists.

On one of her CDs, she also sings prayers that have long been the domain of men.

“I am vocal about my ideas,” she said.

Khadem will be in concert tonight at the Outpost Performance Space, singing and playing the daf, a Persian frame drum. With her will be Santa Fe’s Polly Tapia Ferber on Middle Eastern percussion and Greek musician Sofia Labropoulou on kanun, a zither that’s plucked and rests on the player’s lap.

Khadem said she’s found similarities between Greek and Persian music and plays both styles in concert.

Though Khadem is considered bold and revolutionary in breaking rules, she has kept one foot in traditional Persian music.

“My training has been in Persian classical music. My idea was to become a traditional singer. That’s why I traveled back to Iran, to study with the masters,” she said.

For 18 years Khadem was a math teacher in California with music held in the shadows. In 2002, she quit teaching to focus on music.

“For me music has to have some kind of purpose,” Khadem said.

“It’s not just for me, ‘Let’s have fun.’ It really is a way to express myself, to express the beauty of my culture and to connect with people of other cultures. Arts is a way to overcome all political differences. and it’s a window to look into for world peace.”