TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- The well-known Iranian player of tar Hossein Alizadeh and the prominent Armenian musician Jivan Gasparyan will jointly perform concerts on September 4-6 at the Niavaran Cultural Center.

This is the first time traditional Armenian and Iranian music are mixed.

Speaking at a press conference, the musicians both believe that the joint concerts indicate the common origins of music in Iran and Armenia, and the programs aim to bring the two cultures closer together.

"This gives me a great honor to perform concerts beside Alizadeh," said Gasparyan who is famed for playing duduk, an ancient Armenian instrument resembling an oboe.

Cylindrical in shape, duduk is made of apricot wood and has 9 finger holes including one thumb.

He received the WOMEX (The World Music Expo) lifetime achievement award of 2002 at the age of 73. Alizadeh described Gasparyan as a messenger of peace and said, "We should be familiar with music of our neighboring countries instead of referring to the music of distant nations."

In these concerts, Alizadeh will publicly play his innovative instrument sallaneh for the first time.

Sallaneh is an instrument with metal strings whose sound is similar to that of Iranian musical instruments Oud and Robab.

About six month ago, Alizadeh offered a CD with pieces performed with sallaneh.

He has already performed most of his concerts with the Iranian music titan Mohammadreza Shajarian.