The Ansan

The Ansan is the brainchild of Iranian singer, composer, and instrumentalist Siamak Moghaddam. It is a way of thinking, feeling, and being based on the belief in unity through diversity, peaceful communication, and tolerance.

The Ansan is also a changing diverse collective of musicians experienced in different musical traditions from around the world who join Moghaddam as individuals or as band in his musical explorations of what it means to be human with other humans. Ansan's music fuses Middle Eastern vibes with Western genres in a unique and vibrant way - the "other way", Ansan.

Have a look around, and meet each of us here.

Siamak Moghaddam is an Iranian-German musician and composer, speciallising in the setar, tanbour, and daf.
Born in Tehran in 1980, Siamak developed a love for music early on, teaching himself the keyboard and guitar. As a teenager, he became fascinated by the instruments of his own culture, and started to receive teaching in the Persian framedrum (daf), and other Middle Eastern percussion. After graduating from school, Siamak left Iran, but took his enthusiasm for Iranian music with him to Europe, expanding his repertoire to tanbour and setar (Oriental versions and pre-cursors of the guitar).
Siamak is committed to passing on his knowledge of and love for music, and has been teaching daf, tanbour and setar for over twenty years now, both privately, as well as at institutions such as the West-östliche Musikwerkstatt Berlin, and the German Migration and Integration Office.
Siamak is also an active musician, both as individual artist and in musical collectives. He has played with the Lauratiborg Oper Berlin and Denmark, and has founded two ensembles, the Oshaq Sufi Music Band (2003-05) while living in the Netherlands, and Ansan Ensemble (2014 to the present) when re-locating to Berlin. Siamak believes in the unique power of music to communicate across barriers of language and culture, touching the hearts of those who play and those who listen in equal proportion.
Ansan, the other way, to him means joyfully celebrating the exciting messy ever-creative mixedness of life.

Anker 2

Members of the Collective

Vijay Kannan is an Indian flute-player and composer.
Born in 1986, Vijay grew up in Madras, Tamil Nadu, in India, and has received training in Indian classical music from the age of 6 onwards, including Carnatic singing. He later became enchanted by the flute which he took up, teaching himself.
His passion for music has resulted in collaborations all over the world. Vijay's musical versatility stretches from composing and producing to music advising and performing in films, documentaries, and radio. He has worked for the Indian film industry, independent film makers, and the BBC amongst others.
Vijay has released four albums in a series titled "Haunting Bamboo" which has improvisational Indian ragas rendered on the the Bamboo flute with an emphasis on aiding relaxation and meditation. He has completed a PhD in Electical Engineering, and has lived in Berlin since 2011 where he's a regular in the scenes of jazz, world music, and improv in the city and throughout Germany.
Vijay believes that music is love, that it can touch souls, and make us feel one with the human family and the universe. Ansan is his musical family, and it's where he can experience and share this deeply-held conviction.

Doron Furman is an Israeli oud-player, based in Berlin.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1992, Doron has started learning the guitar at the age of 12, and has graduated from school with a focus on music and classical Western music theory. Even as a teenager, however, his interests in various genres has been wide-ranging, and Doron has played guitar and electric base in jazz, rock, and metal bands.
Doron has family roots in Iraq, and remembers being influenced by Arab sounds and instruments while growing up. That's why he felt drawn to the oud, and began returning to his own origins (and the origins of the guitar!) when he was 17. Since coming to Berlin a few years ago, Doron has focussed on the oud, and has been involved in several cross-cultural bands.
Ansan, for him, is about the people, the different musical and lived backgrounds each member brings to the group, and the exciting mixture those diverse contributions create.

Hans Bilger is an American bass player, songwriter, and composer.
Hans was born in New York. He's the eldest of a musical family, playing folk and country gospel in the family band. This has given Hans a taste for (and plenty of experience in) improvising classical and experimental music. He is a session bassist, and also develops original scores for various artistic projects, from music to dance. Hans has
has published his debut solo album called Meridian.
Hans feels at home not only in the musical world of humans, but also in the different kinds of sounds and songs in the environment. During his studies of biology at Yale University, Hans became fascinated by animal voices, and is pursuing a PhD on the evolution of vocal communication in birds, bats, and frogs, at Austin and Berlin. His academic research and musical activities fruitfully feed each other, for example in Aviary, a series of improvisations and compositions inspired by birdsong recordings.

Matan Goldstien is a percussionist from Israel.
Matan grew up in the Jordan Valley, and started learning the drums aged 13, shortly followed by the guitar, and the piano. His love of music encouraged him to study at the conservatory Kirat Ono in Israel, and becoming a freelance musician, and eventually producer. In 2018, Matan moved to Berlin where he focussed on percussion and establishing his recording and producing studio.