Mehrnam Rastegari

NYC-based Persian musician Mehrnam Rastegari is a master Kamancheh player, singer, violinist, and award-winning composer whose sound pushes Persian music into bold, modern directions. Her work threads Persian microtonal tradition through rock, psych, and contemporary styles, creating performances that feel deeply expressive. Her international stage credits include Lincoln Center 2024 with Jon Batiste, WOMEX, GlobalFest, Pitchfork Music Festival, Le Guess Who?, United Nations Headquarters, Into the Great Wide Open, Secret Planet/APAP, Ragas Live Festival, Montana Folk Festival, Crossing Border, Mutations, and many more. She is featured on Jon Batiste’s Grammy-nominated “World Music Radio” album. Rastegari completed a year-long residency with Joe’s Pub for their Working Group program. She has composed scores for more than 10 films, earning “Best Original Score” at the Melbourne City Independent Film Awards. Mehrnam is also a selected instructor for Carnegie Hall and their Musical Explorers program. Through her performances and compositions, Rastegari is bringing the Kamancheh to places and in new directions and in new musical settings and she continues to show how Persian musical heritage can speak in unexpected ways—alive, rhythmic, and full of possibility. In 2025, Mehrnam released ‘Dislocated Pulse’, her full-length psych rock, Middle Eastern album built around electrified Kamancheh, heavy grooves, and restless, shifting microtonal motifs.