Omid Kamkar Lotfi

Who is Omid Kamkar Lotfi?

Omid Kamkar is a setar, and daf player. He is classical Persian ensemble musicians and he also tours the world with The Kamkars, an Iranian Kurdish group composed of Omid, his six uncles, and his mother. He has also toured with his musician father, Mohammad Reza Lotfi.

In the last 9 years, Omid has increasingly become recognized as a solo performer and the greatest living heir to Iran’s illustrious Setar tradition. Omid’s unprecedented ambidextrous technique and experiments in tuning, combined with his sheer musicality, have allowed him to reinvent the Setar repertoire. His performing is technically flawless, powerful, and strongly emotional.

Omid was born in the city of Tehran, Iran, he studied music at the early age of five under the supervision of his family The kamkars. His focus at first was on the contemporary Iranian music, but later at the age of 20 he studied the traditional repertoire, the Radif.

He has also studied with the great master Hossein Alizadeh for few months. Omid was deeply inspired by his uncle Ardavan Kamkar and his father Mohammad Reza Lotfi. Omid started his performing career in 1993 at Vahdat Auditorium of Iran.