Mehfil Night: Afghan Rabab Performance and Workshop with Sannan Mahboob
Esteemed artist Sannan Mahboob will lead an interactive workshop for students to learn more about the Afghan babab, a plucked lute instrument played across Asia for over a thousand years and Afghanistan’s national instrument. With the Taliban’s increased efforts to eliminate traditional cultural practices and art forms, this workshop aims to pass on some seeds of that cultural knowledge to students in Minnesota, who will learn fundamentals of rabab playing, a brief history of the instrument, and basic techniques. The workshop will lead into a jam session and catered biryani dinner. Participants are encouraged to bring any instruments they would like to play during the jam session! Co-sponsored by CSA!, MSA, College Ministry, the Lutheran Center, and the Music Department. This is a Pink Card Event.
Sannan Mahboob is a rabab artist, composer, music therapist, and educator dedicated to carrying tradition into the modern music style. A student of the renowned rabab virtuoso, Ustad Homayoun Sakhi, Sannan has performed at major cultural platforms including the All Pakistan Music Conference and international stages like Ragas Live Festival for Pioneer Works, in Brooklyn, New York in the United States, and performed at World Youth Festival Russia. He has collaborated on national projects such as “Ao Ehad Karain” for Coca-Cola Studio and worked across borders with diverse artists. Sannan is the founder of Staccato Academy and the creator of “Heal with Rabab,” exploring the power of music in education and healing. He has also conducted music therapy seminars at NYU’s Nordoff Robbins Center and rabab workshops and performances at the Afghan Cultural Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Through every performance and workshop, he shares the Rabab as a living tradition — rooted in heritage, open to the world.
Sannan Mahboob website: https://sannanmahboob.pk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isannanmahboob/?hl=en
Robert Lehmann (St. Olaf alum 2011) is a mixed-Filipino musician specializing primarily in keyboard-based instruments, with significant experience in Arabic drumming. Robert’s keyboard work draws on his many years studying western classical music on the piano, re-examining those sounds under new lights of improvised music and electronic synthesis. He gathers disparate influences across minimalist and classical piano, house and electronica, ambient, jazz, and film scores, particularly drawing on Romantic and Impressionist era influences, as well as pulling from classical and folk Arabic music from his years spent in several Twin Cities ensembles. This past summer, Robert debuted an EP of songs based on his Lolo’s stories of growing up in the Philippines, including his journey immigrating to the U.S., as well as Robert’s own experiences visiting his Lolo’s hometown with him, reflecting on his own diaspora mixed-Filipino identity. Robert has begun the improvisation research process and is in the process of researching Filipino instruments, folk music, and rhythms in order to incorporate more of those elements throughout. The live version of this album is set to release in summer of 2026.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robbabobba/
