“It was important to choose the right musicians for the project and eventually four Iranian musicians were invited to take part: Arash Moradi, who had been part of the LPO project (tanbur – plucked lute); Nilufar Habibian (qanun - plucked dulcimer); Saedi Kord Mafi (santur – hammered dulcimer and daff – frame drum); and Amir Eslami (nei – end-blown flute). Workshop sessions began with the musicians and storyteller in May 2018, the aim being to compose and shape the music around the story […] A certain amount of the creative process was therefore collaborative and it was interesting to see the music evolve organically and take shape in this way over a period of months” (“The Shahnameh Project: Disseminating Iranian musical culture in Britain”2021)