Ba-dum ching.
My musical world is split: experimental music and improvisation on one side, Persian classical and traditional music on the other. I’ve studied Persian tombak with Kavous Shirzadian and Pejman Hadadi; frame drums with Jamey Haddad, Glen Velez, and Layne Redmond; African and Afro-Caribbean percussion with John Amira and Maguette Fall; and voice with La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Pandit Pran Nath.
Since 2016, I’ve served as artistic director of Extradition, an ensemble and concert series that mines the intersection of composition and improvisation, deliberation and chance, clarity and silence. Other ongoing projects include solo performances of works for percussion and voice, the Lee Hannafin Duo with oboist Catherine Lee, and duo performances with sound artist Loren Chasse.
Additional current and past collaborators have included trumpeter Nate Wooley, sound artist Maria Chavez, industrial percussion legend Z’ev, the Golden Retriever Chamber Ensemble, the 45th Parallel chamber ensemble, shakuhachi player and composer Jeffrey Lependorf, electronics player Tom Hamilton, multi-instrumentalists Omar Faruk Tekbilek and Bobak Salehi, Sun Ra altoist Marshall Allen, Borbetomagus guitarist Donald Miller, and dancers Linda Austin, Yuko Ota, Tere Mathern, Vanessa Skantze, and Kat Macmillan. Past projects have included the duo Shunyata with New York electronics player Brian Moran (2002–2010), improv power trio Chainworks with Brian Moran and pianist Dan DeChellis (2001–2007), Sephardic music and theater group Adelantre (2005–2006), improv group Two Moon Ensemble (2000–2001), traditional Sufi ensemble Soroosh (1995–2002), and Layne Redmond’s previously all-female (before me) percussion ensemble Mob of Angels (1993–94).
I’ve performed for New York’s World Music Institute and Portland's Creative Music Guild, for numerous Persian cultural and arts groups on the east and west coasts, and at venues including the United Nations General Assembly Hall, the Iranian Mission to the UN, the New England Conservatory, the Miami Iranian Cultural Festival, the Improvisation Summit of Portland, the Old Church Concert Hall (OR), the Pacific Northwest College of Art (OR), the Salem World Beat Festival (OR), the Ko Festival (MA), and New York venues Symphony Space, Roulette, the Issue Project Room, the Brooklyn Museum, Tonic, CBGBs, the Knitting Factory, and ABC No Rio. I've released over 25 recordings, most recently Extradition Plays Corner (2023), a 61-track compilation of Philip Corner compositions performed by the Extradition Ensemble plus friends and peer ensembles.
Since 1999 I’ve taught Persian classical and traditional percussion privately, by request.
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Discography
Recordings marked "buy" are available as paid downloads via the links provided. Recordings marked "download" are available as free downloads. Recordings marked with an asterisk can be ordered direct from me. Drop a line.
Extradition Ensemble – Extradition Plays Corner (2023): Sixty-one compositions by experimental great Philip Corner, realized by the Extradition Ensemble plus friends and peer ensembles from the U.S., Colombia, Germany, the Canary Islands (Spain), Greece, and Tajikistan. [buy]
Extradition Ensemble – Antoine Beuger: Now Is the Moment to Learn Hope (2019): Group realization by Loren Chasse (bell), Brandon Conway (guitar), Sage Elaine Fisher (harp), Matt Hannafin (bowed crotale), Branic Howard (bowed guitar), and Evan Spacht (alto trombone). [buy]
Matt Hannafin – John Cage: Four Realizations for Solo Percussion (2018): Performances of Cage’s Composed Improvisation for One-Sided Drums with or without Jangles, Variations II, Variations III, and One4 [buy]
Catherine Lee & Matt Hannafin – Five Shapes: Improvisations for Oboe d'Amore & Percussion (2015): Duo improvisations recorded at Hudson Concert Hall, Salem, Oregon, August 16, 2014 [buy]
Hz (with Z'ev, Steve Hubback, and Ken Hyder) (2014): A virtual collaboration, with tracks by Hannafin, Hubback, and Hyder (the H's) chopped, processed, and remixed by Z'ev (the z) [buy]
Matt Hannafin – No. 1 for Malcolm (2013): A 36-minute composition for solo live electronics and processed percussion, recorded February 2010 [buy]
Matt Hannafin – Cradle Tones (2013): Electronic drone pieces [download - scroll A-Z list for link]
Jeffrey Lependorf & Matt Hannafin – Eight Songs Between Morning and Dark (2013): Studio duos for shakuhachi and percussion [buy]
Shunyata – Avant Yard: 10-31-08 (2008): Live electronics/percussion improvisations, recorded outdoors in Brooklyn, NY [download]
Shunyata + Nate Wooley – 2@NYC: Mar+Apr 2007 (2007): Live electronics/percussion/trumpet improvisations, recorded at the {R}ake series and ABC No Rio, NYC [buy]
Jeffrey Lependorf, Brian Moran, Matt Hannafin & Ravi Padmanabha – Four Ideas of Stillness (2006): Live shakuhachi/electronics/percussion (x2) improvisations, recorded outdoors in Brooklyn, NY [download]
Matt Hannafin & Rebecca Morris – Honey Moon (2005): Environmental musique concrète, with occasional instrumental additions
Chris Welcome, Matt Hannafin, Han Degc, and Motoko Shimizu – ABC No Rio, 8-21-05 (2005): Live guitar/percussion/sax/voice/toys improvisations from ABC No Rio, NYC
Brian Moran & Matt Hannafin – Shunyata (2005): Live electronics/percussion improvisations, recorded outdoors in Brooklyn, NY [buy]
Matt Hannafin, Brian Moran & Nate Wooley – 11-07-04: This Machine Kills Fascists (2004): Live trumpet/electronics/percussion improvisations from ABC No Rio, NYC
Matt Hannafin & Brian Moran – Bar XVI_Afterparty (2004): Live percussion improvisations chopped and manipulated by Brian Moran *
Matt Hannafin & Brian Moran – SubTonic, 9-4-04 (2004): Live electronics/percussion improvisations [buy]
Donald Miller, Blaise Siwula & Matt Hannafin – Sixteen-Minute Boo-Yah Cataclysm (2004): Short, intense guitar/sax/percussion improvisation from ABC No Rio, NYC [buy]
Matt Hannafin – Eight Pieces in Suspended Time (2004): Solo studio pieces for low drums and metals [buy]
Ernesto Diaz-Infante & Matt Hannafin – All the States Between (2004): Extreme-ambient sound collage mixing electronics, field recordings, and radical turntablism with extended-technique percussion [buy]
Chainworks – Twenty Minutes in Brooklyn (2003): Live trio improvisations featuring Dan DeChellis (piano), Brian Moran (electronics), and Matt Hannafin (percussion) [download]
Chainworks – Victory Sessions (2002): Trio studio improvisations featuring Dan DeChellis (piano), Brian Moran (electronics), and Matt Hannafin (percussion) *
Chainworks – Red Rooms (2002): Live trio improvisations featuring Dan DeChellis (piano), Brian Moran (electronics), and Matt Hannafin (percussion) *
Two Moon Trio – Live at the Three Jewels, NYC (bootleg, 2002): Live group improvisations featuring Muriel Vergnaud (flutes), Rich Gross (clarinet, recorder), and Matt Hannafin (percussion)
Two Moon Ensemble – Incidences (2000): Group studio improvisations featuring Muriel Vergnaud (flutes), Rich Gross (clarinet, recorder), Neel Murgai (sitar, daf), and Matt Hannafin (percussion)
Matt Hannafin – Liberation (2000): Solo and multi-track percussion pieces, recorded on four-track cassette in the late 20th century *