Qais Essar
Qais Essar is an Afghan-American rabab player and songwriter based in Phoenix, Arizona. As a student of both Eastern and Western classical music, he strives to include the rabab in musical spaces in which it hasn’t been heard before. Qais Essar is most well known for his work on the song “The Crown Sleeps” from the 2017 film The Breadwinner.
"Fusion is, in its essence, writing from a dual perspective."
Picking up the Rabab
“Music was like the only way I was able to express myself”
Exigence
“I became very much aware that the narrative was being written by someone else, and it was being written incorrectly”
Fusion
“having studied both Western classical and Eastern classical music, I’m able to see where they’re able to marry each other”
Challenges
“Music keeps having to shift the way that it’s presented”
Academics & Music
“You should be able to articulate the change that you want.”
Fusion Collabs
“It’s all the same, we’re just presenting different parts of it.”