Niyaz is an Iranian-Canadian music duo. Niyaz (which means ‘longing’ in Persian, Urdu and Turkish) was described by the US-American Huffington Post as ‘an evolutionary force in contemporary Middle Eastern music’. The only difference is that women are still not allowed to perform in public in Iran. Born in Iran and raised in India, singer and composer Azam Ali founded the band in 2004, now travelling as a duo with Iranian multi-instrumentalist Loga R. Torkian. They have created a 21st century global trance tradition by combining medieval Sufi poetry and ancient folk songs from their homeland with electronic instrumentation and programming. In a time of polarised ideologies, Niyaz aims to bridge the gap between people.