Kurdish kamāncha player Shahriyar Jamshidi improvised a piece at his live performance at D.F. Cook Recital Hall, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada during his residency at Sound Symposium XXI in 2024.

The Kurdish musical system is part of the West Asian and ancient Mesopotamian culture engrained in microtonal music, which has spread across the vast area of the region across the Zagros mountains crossing Iraqi and Turkish borders through central Asia – the area is called Kurdistan.

The vocal melodies have the main role in structuring the Kurdish themes and modes (Maqams). “Elawaysî” (Alavaysi) Mode was born and polished in Xaneqîn (Khanaqin) “Başûr” (Southern Kurdistan) in Iraq. Elawaysî presents the major modal scale’s texture with the main view of the minor mode. Elawaysî mode is part of the special Kurdish modes’ group called Elwenatî (Alwanati) modes related to the name of the Alwand river from the same area. Elwenatî vocal group had a potential role in extending other modes in Başûr and “Rojhelat” Eastern Kurdistan in Iran shaping the Kurdish classical vocal and instrumental music styles there.