Kayhan Kalhor loses the battle with US authorities, returns to Iran

NPR shares a somber music story that has happened in the dark shadow of politics, about kamancheh and setar player and vocalist Kayhan Kalhor. Born in Iran, he left at age 17 during the Iranian Revolution, walking more than 2,500 miles over the Balkans and to Rome, working on the road. After coming to Canada and finishing school he grew a global reputation as a part of Silkroad Ensemble, the artistic collective founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, he has written music for filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and has collaborated with a range of vaunted artists, from Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Rider and the New York Philharmonic to Malian kora master Toumani Diabaté and Dutch jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs. After decades of living in Canada and the US, he lost the immigration battle with the US authorities and has returned to Iran.