Amir Elsaffar’s Two Rivers At Pioneer Works

Amir Elsaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble At Pioneer Works
Tickets: $10. Show at 7 pm.

Amir Elsaffar is an Iraqi-American musician who seems to inhabit two different worlds, which is reflected in his two main instruments. One is the trumpet – a regular Western trumpet that he’s learned to play in Near Eastern scales. The other is the santur, a kind of hammered dulcimer. Elsaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble includes the instruments of a jazz band and the instruments of Arab classical music, and under his direction, those two musical rivers flow seamlessly together. Amir Elsaffar and his Two Rivers Ensemble play tonight at Pioneer Works in Red Hook.