Golnar Shahyar: Voice, Mahan Mirarab: Guitar, Fretless guitar, Setar, Marti… Read Full Bio ↴Golnar Shahyar: Voice, Mahan Mirarab: Guitar, Fretless guitar, Setar, Martin Heinzle: Contrabass, Klemens Marktl: Drums

The Iranian/Austrian quartet, Choub, began its collaboration in the Spring of 2011. It offers a mixture of Persian music and western jazz with Latin and African influences. Soft harmonies, dynamism, virtuosity and playfulness define the character of the band. With her nuanced voice, Golnar Shahyar, 27 years old, interprets lyrics of the Persian poets, Hafez and Omar Khayyam, as well her own lyrics in Farsi, English and an improvised fantasy language.
The 28-year old Mahan Mirarab brings to the band his stunning guitar playing skills with absolute ease, which is powered by jazz pulses from Martin Heinzle and Klemens Marktl. Choub is musical expansion and cosmopolitan jazz with a Persian aroma that touches even the most reserved audience.

Since Spring of 2011, Mahan Mirarab and Golnar Shahyar started a collaboration to bring their musical ideas to life. Infused with jazz musicians, Martin Heinzle on contrabass and Klemens Marktl on drums, their music has created an original sound, mixing Persian music, western jazz harmonies, as well as African and Latin beats.

As a result of a lack of appreciation for international music forms in Iran, Golnar and Mahan both chose something other than music as their field of study (for Shahyar, Biology and for Mirarab, Architecture) before they dedicated themselves to music after moving to Europe.

As a self-taught jazz guitarist, Mahan was eager to create a new kind of music rooted in his own culture and his passion, jazz music. Therefore he started to learn classical Iranian music by playing tar and setar. He was part of the jazz scene in Iran and played with various international artists before moving to Vienna to further his musical careeer. “Persian Side of Jazz”, his first trio project in Vienna, is one of his achievements from the musical experiences he had in Iran and Europe.

Golnar Shahyar decided to choose the life of a musician while she was finishing her studies in Biology in Toronto. After moving to Vienna she entered the University of Music and Performance Arts in order to master the art of singing. In addition to her highly innovative world music projects, Sormeh and Gabbeh, she has also demonstrated her performance talent in the experimental suite of Mathias Ruegg in Porgy and Bess as reciter of Gertrude Stein texts, as well as collaborating with the Swiss accordionist, Hans Hassler.

In Choub the 27-year old vocalist interprets lyrics of the Persian poets, Hafez and Omar Khayyam, as well her own lyrics in Farsi, English and an improvised fantasy language.

What the musicians in Choub hope to inspire through their vivacious music is a sense of living in the moment, by striving to break the boundaries of the psyche and reach the state of pure connection and creation. The euphoric bliss of the audience after each concert is a testament to their success.

Choub is not an ordinary ethno jazz quartet. It is original like an original handicraft. The band is called Choub, the Persian word for wood, to emphasize that. One can associate the name with many things such as the wooden body of the guitar or the contrabass or the drum sticks. It is the rhythmic play of knocking on wood, or the wood of the walnut tree which Mahan’s setar is made out of.
Choub’s music is playful and dynamic. It is musical expansion and cosmopolitan jazz with a Persian aroma.