AgawDilim

Jazz chords, groove-heavy rhythms, and Iranian melodies, played on the 72-string santoor, come together in the genre-blurring musical feast of AgawDilim (Tagalog for “dusk falling” and Kurdish for “awakened heart”). Their music can transport you in an instant from a winding alley in Tehran’s bazaar to a smoky blues bar in Detroit. They are inspired by the improvisational traditions of jazz and Iranian music, distinct lineages united by real-time expression.

Ann Arbor residents Veena Kulkarni-Rankin and Babak Soleimani founded the band through a shared love of fusion music. Veena is a pianist grounded in classical training and equally at home in jazz and blues. Her first album, Lua Nova, showcases a unique synthesis of classical composition, world folk influences, and traditional narrative forms.

Trained in the Radif tradition and immersed in modern santoor techniques, Babak Soleimani weaves jazz and electronic textures into his instrumentals on two exploratory EPs: Dhow and Farewell Pond. Together with drummer Chris Pyke and bassist Frank Bennett III, they founded AgawDilim, a band created to channel their fusion-driven sound on stage.

Veena Kulkarni-Rankin was born and raised in the US Midwest and began her piano studies at the age of five. She won many youth competitions, studied at Indiana University, and then earned a doctorate in Piano Pedagogy and Performance at the University of Michigan. Finding great fulfillment in teaching, she is currently the Lead Instructor at Faber Piano Institute. She has also taught at Madonna University and at the University of Windsor. In 2011, Veena won the Best Liszt Interpretation prize at the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition and gave two East Coast premieres. Over the years, as a lover of all types of music, she has branched off into other styles of playing, many that fuse improvisation with composed-out music. Most notable is her partnership with baritone Jean Bernard Cerin. Their concerts feature folk and art music, storytelling, and social justice issues from the United States, Haiti, South America, the Philippines, India, European cultures, and beyond. A second generation American, Veena loves connecting with and learning more about her Filipino and Indian roots.

Babak Soleimani was born in Iran and started playing the Santoor when he was 10 yrs. old, taking a 9 hour bus ride to attend his music lessons until he moved to Tehran for college. He came to the US in 2012 and played his music while also working as a Data Scientist at Ford Motor Company. He produced his own EP, Dhow, in 2023 which you can hear on all streaming platforms.

Veena and Babak were introduced by a mutual friend in 2021 who thought that they were musically aligned, and he was right! Their love of improvisation and exploring cultural influences in music result in an exciting and intricate blend of melody, rhythm, and groove!