There are bands that play music, and then there are bands that translate worlds. Ladom Ensemble belongs firmly to the latter. Formed by musicians whose roots reach across Iran, Serbia, and Canada, the quartet blurs the lines between classical structure and folk instinct, between nostalgia and reinvention. Their sound anchored by piano, accordion, cello, and percussion moves like migration itself: fluid, restless, full of yearning.
In a time when the language of division feels louder than ever, Ladom Ensemble offers something radical in its simplicity which is connection. Through melodies that shift between continents and emotions that outpace words, their music becomes a space where exile transforms into belonging.
Let’s begin our talk with Pouya Hamidi, the Pianist of the band.
Pouya, can you introduce Ladom Ensemble — who you are, where you come from musically, and what drew you together as a group?
Ladom ensemble started about 20 years ago when I was a student at the University of Toronto, studying classical piano and composition. I was sitting in a class with a friend of mine who played the accordion, and we said, “It would be cool if you brought some of your Balkan-inspired compositions, and I bring some of my Iranian-inspired compositions. We could create an ensemble where we combine our instruments and see where that takes us.” As you can imagine, in these 2 decades, lots has happened to the group. We’ve recorded three albums, toured across Canada, and performed hundreds of concerts. I am the only original member left from that initial time, but the four of us have been together in this configuration for about 10 years. It’s been a beautiful journey—one that has organically formed through our mutual love of music making.
What inspired this instrumentation, and how did you discover that these sounds could speak together so naturally?
It was an experiment that turned out to work really well. When we first started, my friend Nemanja (accordion) and I (piano) thought it would be great to have a string instrument, like the cello, and to add some impact, maybe some kind of hand percussion. In Balkan and Iranian music, a lot of different hand percussion instruments are used. When we put all this together, we realized it works beautifully. To our knowledge, there’s no other ensemble that regularly performs with this combination of instruments. Having accordion and piano in the same group can be a challenge because they cover the same note range and that could create tonal clashes or build ups, but over the years we’ve learned to work with that and actually use it to our advantage.
Do you see your music as a dialogue between classical and folk traditions, or as a new language that transcends genre altogether?
Oh, this is an interesting question. It’s been really hard over the years to define what genre or style Ladom is. We’re an ensemble that’s deeply personal and goes beyond classical and folk traditions. It’s who we are as four individual beings and how we interpret the music. We don’t represent all the different cultures whose music we play, but we make it our own. We really transcend genre labeling. We’re not classical, or folk, or jazz, or global. We’re a combination of all those things. We take inspiration from folk melodies and use classical sensibilities, but at the same time, we go beyond the notes on the page. Every performance is different.
What narratives or inner landscapes do you most want to explore through your compositions?
As the principle composer of the group, I’ve experimented with different techniques and narratives over the last 19 years. When I compose for this group, I use my Iranian heritage as a starting point that sprouts into a composition of its own. I use modal, thematic, and rhythmic ideas from this heritage to explore and expand on when composing for the group. In terms of narratives, I’m hugely influenced by Iranian poets. We also rearrange music from other parts of the world, such as tango, klezmer, Balkan, and classical music—composers like Prokofiev, Bach, and Chopin. We “Ladomize” the music and make it our own with our unique instrumentation. This creates a new narrative that keeps the core idea of the original song but at the same time create something fresh and new.
How has migration, diaspora, or changing identity shaped your musical trajectory?
I moved to Canada when I was 12. That’s the time that you are experiencing puberty, changing bodies and minds and it is a big transition for anyone. Having now lived more of my life in Canada than in Iran, my identity has been shaped into something uniquely mine: not fully Canadian, not fully Iranian, but somewhere in between. I speak English with an non-English accent and Farsi with a non-Farsi accent. Being in the diaspora is complex as I still feel a strong connection to Iran: my family, the streets and mountains I grew up around, the skies but at the same time I feel foreign when I go there. My roots and Iranian music has always been a guiding light in my compositions, both with Ladom Ensemble and in other projects.
How do you think about space, silence, and audience presence when planning a concert?
The space we perform in and the audience are really important when planning and preparing for a concert. We use different technical specifications for a church, for example, versus a drier space like a theatre or a venue with a restaurant or bar. The ambient sounds of each space make a difference in how the audience hears and experiences our music. Silence at the bar (glasses clinking together) is much different than silence in a concert hall. So when planning concerts, we choose a repertoire appropriate to the space. For example, if we’re performing outside, we pick livelier songs. If we’re performing indoors at a church or concert venue, we choose repertoire with more dynamic range, contrasting tempi.
Have there been moments when you pushed back against expectations — from critics, audiences, or even your own selves?
Over the years we’ve had moments when presenters or audiences rejected us (almost always because they didn’t check us out) – didn’t book us or didn’t give us a chance to be heard. Of course that’s discouraging; criticism and pushback affect us as human-beings. But we’ve learned that our love of music matters most, so we keep going. More often than not the opposite happens: we’re surprised by positive responses and by audience members who come up to talk to us after concerts and the music and our stories have resonated with them. They come from a place of truth. We don’t ignore critics, but we don’t let them discourage us either.
How do you preserve the ephemeral, human quality of your music in today’s tech-driven context?
This is an interesting question because the state of music feels a bit in shambles right now with all the AI tech and the genuine worries around it. The music that Ladom Ensemble makes is very human — it’s created by people. Made live on stage or recorded in the studio by real human hands. We take that human part further: the notes on the page are just a starting point for our group. They’re a guiding principle, and we often go beyond them. We improvise, change the length of sections, and let tempo vary from performance to performance and so on. We put our feelings and our moods into the music as it’s being made, in real time.
If you were to partner with a poet, visual artist, dancer, or filmmaker, how might that project unfold conceptually?
We’ve done many collaborations with poets, visual artists, dancers, and filmmakers over the past two decades. Some examples are we worked with a dance choreographer on our song “Distance” and made a video project shot with six women that explores themes of diaspora and freedom — you can watch it on our YouTube page. We also teamed up with a visual artist to create an animated video for our piece “Romanian Fantasies,” which explores Romanian folklore; that turned out to be a powerful video and is also on our YouTube page. We love working with non-music artists — our music lends itself well to other mediums.
Looking ahead, what themes, places, or emotional territories do you feel compelled to explore next, and how might Ladom’s sound change to meet them?
The amazing thing about Ladom is that we don’t really know what’s next. It’s progressed organically over the years — lots of ideas float around. At the moment nothing is set in stone yet. We are still touring our latest album, Sofreh Tisch in Canada so that’s what immediately next for us. Ladom’s sound changes from project to project. As we get older and gain more life experiences, naturally the sound of the ensemble also matures. We’re excited to see what comes next — the not-knowing is actually kind of exciting.
Connect with LADOM ENSEMBLE:
https://www.ladomensemble.com/
Interviewed by Asal Bassir
