Memphis Music Feature: Lily Afshar

Memphis Music Feature: Lily Afshar

In October, the Memphis Music Foundation celebrates Memphis Means Music Month (M3 Month) by inviting people to a ton of events where you can hear/learn about Memphis music. For a full list of associated events, go here and scroll down past the calendar.

Throughout October, I'll be talking about past and present Memphis musicians in honor of M3 Month. I hope you find some new favorite tunes. Today's Memphis artist is Lily Afshar.

Lily is the head of the University of Memphis guitar program, an internationally-known classical guitarist, and a groundbreaking Iranian-American. She is the first woman in the world to earn a Doctorate of Music in guitar performance, and she's won so many awards both locally and internationally that it would take me several posts to list them.

She's recorded six albums of classical guitar music, including three with Archer Records in Memphis.  "Musica da Camera", her most recent album, is her first chamber recording (accompanied by other musicians instead of solo) and is fun and appealing to the general listener as well as the classical music aficionado.

Here's what Lily says about how the Memphis music scene has influenced her work:

“The diversity of music in Memphis is unique. From the beginning when I moved to Memphis, I got introduced to the blues and have enjoyed playing and listening to it along with my  classical guitar music. It was an honor to be recognized as the Best Memphis Guitarist by the local chapter of NARAS (Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) three years in a row, proving that Memphis believes in high level of guitar playing no matter what the genre is. Working with Archer Records and releasing three CDs with them has been a great experience and their forward thinking attitude is always inspiring and refreshing.”

You can find more info about Lily on her site and sample or purchase her albums on iTunesAmazon  and Archer Records . She has a performance scheduled for December 21 at The Booksellers at Laurelwood.

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Lauren Phelps
Very Cool. I'm excited to see the artists that you feature this month. 
October 9, 2013 11:15am
Lily Afshar | …
[…] M3 Month Spotlight: Lily Afshar, I Love Memphis […]
October 10, 2013 9:53am