Born in 1963 in Kermanshah, Iran, to a Kurdish family, Kayhan Kalhor began kamancheh studies at age seven and later trained in the radif, the core repertoire system of Persian classical music, performing with tar master Mohammad Reza Lotfi’s Shayda Ensemble in Tehran. He is an original member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, has recorded with the Kronos Quartet and Brooklyn Rider, and won a Grammy Award in 2017 with the Silk Road Ensemble.

Mood and energy: Searching, virtuosic, cross-cultural. Recommended uses: reflection, meditation.

Sacred Ground Confidence Score: 5 out of 5 stars   Final recommendation: Approved, labeled as contemporary cross-cultural rather than strict tradition-bearer.

Why this artist belongs in Sacred Sounds: A Grammy-winning, Kurdish-Iranian kamancheh master whose Silk Road Ensemble work directly embodies the cross-cultural Silk Road framing this collection uses as its organizing idea.