Instrumental Group of the Year
Congratulations to our group!
Multicultural Wind Ensemble has been nominated in category of “Instrumental Group of the Year” in “Canadian Folk Music Awards 2026”!
Hamin Honari
Charlie Lui
Alcvin Ryūzen Ramos
Zhongxi Wu
https://folkawards.ca/nominees
First Official Album
https://album.link/i/1805888914
Artist Profile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de8y_bysI5w
Videos
UPCOMING CONCERTS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcNXyUHcZw
October 12, 224 at 2:30 PM in Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria Island
https://www.christchurchcathedral.bc.ca/events/multicultural-wind-ensemble-concert/2024-10-12
October 15, 2024 at 7:30 PM in Annex Theatre, Vancouver
https://www.vtixonline.com/multicultural-wind-ensemble-in-concert/4514/
Multicultural Wind Ensemble Project has been stablished by receiving the grant of Explore and Create – Research and Creation from Canada Council for the Arts in 2023 by Amir Eslami as a composer and Ney (Persian traditional flute) player.
Amir Eslami: Ney
My inspiration from this project comes from my work with Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra as both a performer of a traditional instrument and as a composer for orchestras and small ensembles. I started my musical studies playing the Ney which is a traditional flute from Persia, and the Middle East. However, my formal music training and education was completed with a Western Classical focus (composition and arrangement).
When I arrived in Canada, I started collaborating with the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra (VICO). There I given a unique opportunity to compose for the ensemble and perform the Ney without any prejudice or stylistic conflict. In addition to this, I have met many great musicians who share similar musical upbringings despite having grown up in a different part of the world. These interactions have been one of the most welcoming and beautiful experiences I’ve had in Canada. As a result, I think it is relevant for me to build on the experience and compose more music so that my experience may be shared with a broader audience.
While I understand that intercultural has become somewhat normalized in recent years. There has seldom been any exploration of instruments of the same family from different regions of the world. (With the exception of percussion instruments) I’ve composed for each of these instruments on an individual basis but have never had the opportunity to bring them all together for one piece.
For this project I would like to have a world percussionist to ground the composition in expressive rhythmic forms. I’d like to work with Hamin Honari, a percussionist from Vancouver / Montreal. He has been active in many projects from different parts of the world and he can add a lot to the composition with the use of frame drums and other traditional percussion instruments. Flutes and hand drums are some of the oldest traditions which developed in parallel throughout the world. It is important for me to bring these instruments together and demonstrate the uniqueness of each style and also the similarities we all share culturally.
Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos: Shakuhachi
I am dedicated to living life in an authentic way through the playing of the shakuhachi, Japan’s profoundly beautiful vertical bamboo flute. I am passionate about sharing with the public my way of living shakuhachi through offering private lessons, organizing special events for shakuhachi, and pilgrimages to Japan to experience shakuhachi culture at its root: to harvest bamboo, visit sacred sites, meditate, take lessons with the masters, attend concerts, and partake in the many pleasures that Japan has to offer.
“…to be a better (traditional) musician, be a better human being first.” —— Professor Dong Won Kim (Korean traditional percussionist and improvisor).
Zhongxi Wu: Sheng & Suona
Zhongxi Wu was born in Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China and is from a family of traditional musicians. After immigrating to Canada, Zhongxi enjoys collaborating on innovative and musically authentic projects, such as the Multicultural Wind Ensemble and VICO, among others. Most recently, he premiered a new double concerto by Rita Ueda, with the Orchestra Métropolitain in Montréal, for the Azrieli Foundation Gala Concert in 2022. He also teaches suona at the VSO School Music in Vancouver. Zhongxi extends his interest in double reed instruments to the Scottish Highland bagpipes, and is currently Pipe Sergeant with the Delta Police Pipe Band. He enjoys music of many cultures, and has arranged for East-Meets-West collaborations between suona and bagpipes.
https://vsoschoolofmusic.ca/faculty/zhongxi-wu/
Charlie Lui: Dizi & Xiao
A multiple award winner, Charlie masters a wide range of Chinese wind instruments. Charlie is a board director of the BC Chinese Music Association, a member of the Sound of Dragon Ensemble, Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, BC Chinese Music Ensemble, and the co-founder of Pentatonics. As a soloist, Charlie has performed numerous dizi concerti and has performed on several CDs. In 2011, he premiered concerto grosso Tsu-ur Song by Dr. Ning Wang with the Nu: BC and the BC Chinese Music Ensemble in a Canada-China collaboration. In the same year, Charlie also performed Steve Chatman’s Earth Songs with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Charlie studied the dizi with Jian Min Pan in Vancouver and Wei-Yu Tan in China.
https://vsoschoolofmusic.ca/faculty/charlie-lui/
Hamin Honari: Percussion
Hamin Honari is an Iranian-Canadian percussionist specializing in tombak and daf, two percussion instruments of Iranian origin. Hamin has adapted his style and technique of percussion playing to enable him to extend it across several different genres. He has over ten years of experience in more than just teaching, notably at the Vancouver Symphony School of Music. The Nava Arts Centre in North Vancouver, and the Persian Cultural and Art institute of British Columbia.
Throughout the years he has developed his own set of teaching tools, based on his observations and style of playing. Hamin has performed with numerous musical ensembles, especially the Dastan Ensemble – one of the best known classical Persian music ensembles in Iran, and has also accompanied numerous exceptional musicians and singers such as Salar Aghili, Parissa, Hossein Omoumi, Hossein Behroozinia, Saeed Farajpouri and Itamar Er.
https://constantinople.ca/en/team/hamin-honari-2/
NEW MEMBERS
Curtis Andrews
Curtis Andrews is a Canadian musician with global persuasions, who specializes in South Indian percussion, West African drum/dance, drum set, and mbira. A percussionist/composer/teacher who creates music that is informed by his many years of experience with these traditions yet transcends most categories.
His personal musical journeys over the years have extended to villages and metropolises of Ghana, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and he has developed a deep knowledge of the history and performance of music from these areas. His personal mentors have included (the late) Don Wherry, Trichy Sankaran and Kwasi Dunyo. He continues to study and perform with these masters whenever possible.
He has released two albums of original music with his own ensemble The Offering of Curtis Andrews, plays mbira, drums and marimba with Zimbabwean groups Zhambai Trio and Zimbamoto, explores South Indian classical Carnatic music with vocalist Vidyasagar Vankayala, regularly collaborates with local Bharatanatyam performers, and is a regular collaborator with various world music and jazz musicians in and around Vancouver, BC.
Besides being an eclectic performer, he also holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology and is currently a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022).
https://constantinople.ca/en/team/hamin-honari-2/
Emad Armoush
Syrian/Canadian multi-instrumentalist musician and singer Emad Armoush has been very active in the Arabic, flamenco, world and the creative improv music scene of Vancouver since 2000. Inspired to bring his roots from Arabic traditions into his current musical life and influences, Emad released his debut album “Fragrance” in 2021 with the members of his group Rayhan, some of Canada’s finest innovative musicians, bridging traditional Arabic music with free improv and electronics. In November of 2023, his sophomore album “Electritradition” was released on Drip Audio label, a record of 5 duos highlighting original compositions. In December 2024, he released his second Rayhan group album “Distilled Extractions”, which came out on Afterday Audio record label, melding great traditional Arabic songs, and some original compositions with the creative and free jazz improv, and with electronics. Emad has been performing as a Ney player and a vocalist with the Gordon Grdina 10-piece Arabic – Avant-Garde Ensemble “HARAM” since 2008. He has performed in numerous music festivals across Canada and Europe in a multitude of collaborations.
Gandhaar Amin
A young musician from Pune, India, Gandhaar started intensive training in Indian classical music with his father, at the age of 4. With this strong base of a codified form of music, Gandhaar decided to apply the melodic depth of Indian classical music to a modern, urban setting.
Gandhaar started creating music that was difficult to define at the time. A strong Indian melodic identity, combined with the finesse of electronic music production. This soon became his signature sound, and he started getting invited to create music for applications that needed this modern and global take on Indian music.
From BGM and songs for TV and film, to advertising jingles and corporate presentations, Gandhaar has been creating music for a wide range of applications for a decade and a half. He also composes and produces independently released music under his own name, while producing music for indie song writers from around the world. Notably, he recorded and was a co-composer on Inner World, a music album by The Dalai Lama, in 2020.
Gandhaar has also been performing his own music, and has played with musicians like Ehsaan Noorani, Taufiq Qureshi, Gino Banks, Sanjay Divecha, Karsh Kale, and many more.
Gandhaar moved to Toronto, Canada recently, and has been working as a performer, composer/producer, and music educator here.
Selmanpak Ayduz
Selmanpak was born in İstanbul, Türkiye, and from an early age was surrounded by music. His mother, a singer in a small Turkish community group, would lull him to sleep with hymns and melodies rooted in the traditional Turkish maqam. Her voice awakened in him a deep musical ear, and by the age of five he began playing the piano. After three years of private piano lessons in Azerbaijan, he continued formal music instruction in Turkey through high school, developing both his technical skills and his appreciation for musical tradition.
His first encounter with the ney in a mosque was a turning point—he instantly fell in love with its haunting, spiritual sound. Throughout high school he performed with local music bands, and during university he studied under a professor in the Turkish Religious Music Department, deepening his understanding of maqam theory and performance. Today, he is able to play seven different instruments, and since moving to Canada in 2017, he has collaborated with various local musicians and participated in numerous musical projects.