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Khaled Arman was born to a family of musicians in Kabul, Afghanistan. His father, Hossein Arman, was one of the instigators of the rebirth of popular Afghan music in the sixties. Following the footsteps of his uncle lbrahim Nassim, a protest singer and later director of the musical programme at Radio Kabul, Khaled Arman started out by learning the tabla at the age of five. His teacher was Ustad Gholam Nabi, a master from Kharabad, the musicians' quarter of Kabul. Later on, his father introduced him to classical guitar. After he was discovered by Czech talent scouts, Khaled was admitted to Jir? Jarmal's class at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts (AMU). In 1986, he was awarded the first prize at the Radio France international guitar contest in Paris. He went on to pursue a soloist career in Europe, Japan, and Latin America. His repertoire includes the work of Heitor Villa Lobos and Manuel, who - like many others - work with popular melodies from their respective countries. Khaled Arman wrote several guitar pieces inspired by Afghan folklore, which he presented during the Semaine de la guitare in Paris in 1988. Australian guitarist John Williams was in the public and encouraged him to continue in this way.
After ten years devoted to the classical guitar, Khaled Arman made a big leap and began playing the Afghan lute, the rubab. In 1995, he created the Ensemble Kaboul together with his father and three other musicians. The group performed all over the world and took part in the most prestigious festivals. They released their first album, «Nastaran», in 2001, followed by «Radio Kaboul» in 2003. Featuring diva Ustad Mahwash, the album looks back on the glorious years (1960-1970) of Afghan popular music. All the arrangements are by Khaled Arman.
Khaled Arman also performed in numerous festivals as a rubab soloist. He was commissioned by the Radio suisse romande to record a solo album, «Rubab Raga», which was released in October 2003. The musician adapted his instrument to the classical Afghan repertoire, which is similar to that of northern India. Instrument maker Luc Breton assisted him in his research. Khaled Arman is the first musician to have taken the rubab out of its strictly folkloric repertoire. Music critic Arnaud Robert wrote: «On this historical album, Khaled Arman accomplished what Mounir Bachir did for the Arab oud and Ali Akhbar Khan for the Indian sarod.» (Le Temps, November 15, 2003).
Khaled Arman regularly performs with Jordi Savall in Spain and in Austria. He will also take part in the Baroque music festival «Amarcord» in Geneva.
His classical Western training has lead Khaled Arman to create contemporary pieces for the rubab. French composer Fabien Tehericsen composed a piece for rubab and full orchestra for him, which he performed in Avignon in 2003. During the next Archipel festival in Geneva, which will take place in March, Khaled Arman will perform a piece by the Genevan Eric Gaudibert.
Together with the Neapolitan pianist Franco Russo, Khaled Arman has also experimented with electronic music on the album entitled «Kaboul Workshop». In 2002 and 2003, he performed with singer Alain Bashung and Rodolphe Burger from the band Kat Onoma.
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Siar Hashemiwas born on February 14, 1981, in Kabul, Afghanistan. As a child, he showed great interest in the tabla, which he began to study after his fourth birthday. He left Afghanistan in 1989 and continued to study the tabla for six months in India. After that, he left for Germany where he was taught by Swapan Bhattacharia, an Indian master of the tabla. He has performed with Afghanistan's most prestigious musicians, as well as with great artists from Iran, Pakistan, India, Turkey and Germany. He has recorded over 20 CDs with various musicians. Siar Hashemi completed his musical training in Hamburg, where he is currently studying ingeneering at the University.
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