Skip to Content

Pedram Baldari: Resonant Transmutations Premieres in Vancouver

October 1, 2025

On November 8, Stamps Assistant Professor Pedram Baldari’s ARIA grant-funded project, Resonant Transmutations, will première in Vancouver, British Columbia, as part of Music on Main’s 2025 Modulus Festival.

Previously titled Variations of Sounds, Resonant Transmutations is a platform to facilitate a metamorphosis of violence into hopeful possibilities, using objects such as decommissioned weapons acquired from police to produce performances, sound installations, videos and music albums.

IMG 3476 1
Jîwan made from decommissioned rifles

The project started when I learned about a Gun Buy Back program in Minneapolis called ​“ART IS MY WEAPON.” I acquired parts from the Pillsbury United Communities located in Northeast Minneapolis, which were decommissioned by the Minneapolis Police Department. Through conducting research on the acoustics of wind instruments, I began to develop them into wind instruments. This process was done in the most minimal way possible to avoid obscuring the physical presence of the guns used in the project. This decision was made to ensure the instruments would be instantly recognized for what they were and not lose their characteristics through the process.

SRG3703
Woodwind instrument made from decommissioned rifle
Woodwind instruments made from decommissioned rifles
Woodwind instruments made from decommissioned rifles

Having grown up in an active war zone (Iran/​Iraq and Kurdish ethnic cleansing), I learned too early to be resourceful with objects we could salvage. I remember walks with my friends when we would collect bullet shells, gun parts, and other parts of killing devices. We turned them into pen holders, whistles, and other strange objects of the imagination.

We were Kurds, witness to the end of too many gun barrels because of our identity, our language, and culture. With ​“Variations of Sounds, Travelling Between a Barrel and a Heart”, I strive to connect my experiences to war and occupation of my homeland by military means to issues of gun violence in the United States.


The November 8 première will feature a collaborative performance utilizing the instruments Baldari made from decommissioned weapons. Baldari will be joined by:

  • Matthew Rahaim: Composer, Voice, Jîwan
  • Cherolyn Kay Fischer: Woodwind (made from decommissioned rifles)
  • Dameun Strange: Woodwind (made from decommissioned rifles)
  • Nathan Hanson: Woodwind (made from decommissioned rifles)
  • Aida Shahghasemi: Kamanche, Vocal, Daff
  • Ahmad Yousefbeigi: Percussion, Chimes
  • Michael Duffy: Sound Design

As a new iteration of the ongoing Variations of Sounds project, musician Matthew Rahaim developed a composition titled ​“Surkh Hai Aahan” based on the instrument/​sound sculpture ​“Jîwan” (pronounced Jeewan) — a Kurdish name derived from Jîn (Life). This video shows an earlier performance of ​“Surkh Hai Aahan” recorded in the fall of 2023, featuring Rahaim on the Jîwan, Baldari on Daff and Galina Dordevic on Violin.

“Surkh Hai Aahan,” 2023

Pedram Baldari: Resonant Transmutations
Saturday, November 8, 2025; Doors at 7 p.m., concert starts at 7:30 p.m.
The Roundhouse, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2W3, Canada