New York ( CNN ) -- Diplomacy has n't worked . Sanctions have achieved little . Relations between Iran and the United States are , at best , chilly . So why not try music ? On Saturday night , for the first time , Iranians were the headline performers at New York City 's famed Carnegie Hall . A father and son from Iran led American musicians in a hybrid session of traditional Iranian and classical Western music . Thirty-year-old Hafez Nazeri told CNN he was pleased to present `` another dimension of Iran and Iranian culture to the Western people . '' Nazeri , who now lives in the United States , said , `` We hear mostly about the other side -- bloodshed , chaos -- and I wanted to be able to present the reality of our culture , which is about peace and love and unity . '' Nearly 3,000 people , many of them Persians , flocked to Carnegie Hall for the concert . One patron said , `` The message was completely obvious : Love all the way . Peace ! '' The Nazeris said it was an honor to be onstage at the historic music center . The younger Nazeri said his music might be able to bridge cultural divides between Iran and the United States . His father , Shahrem , still lives in Iran . Speaking in Farsi , the man known as the Iranian Pavarotti talked about the demonstrations that followed June 's disputed Iranian presidential election . The tenor said some of the people in the streets are `` requesting something , and I think it 's important to answer to their requests . The government should answer to their requests and they have to see what their people want . '' The Nazeris are two of the few Iranian musicians allowed to freely travel and perform in Iran . Western-style popular music is banned in Iran . With just a few musicians , they form a rare group , blending Persian traditional themes with Western classical style . It 's very simple in presentation : a cello , percussion and an improvised setar -- a Persian instrument like a lute -- played by Hafez Nazeri . The Nazeris ' music is based on the 13th-century Persian poet and philosopher Rumi . `` The idea of the music is to bring unity and to be able to create a music that is not just for Iranians , it 's for people from all over the world , '' the younger Nazeri said . Rachel Cooper , director of cultural programs and performing arts at the Asia Society , said , `` You 're seeing the Iranian culture and the Western culture in something that 's a kind of hybrid , that I think represents the times that we live in . '' The Nazeris receive cultural support from the nonprofit New York-based Asia Society , Cooper told CNN . `` We 've been going through this time period where we 've been thinking about the Berlin Wall coming down , and throughout that period of the Cold War , cultural relations were always a really important component . So I think that cultural relations -- music in particular -- are a really important part of how we know each other as human beings , '' Cooper said . The Nazeris have performed in cities across the United States in recent years .
Hafez Nazeri and his father Shahrem play hybrid of Iranian and Western music . They played for enthusiastic crowd at Carnegie Hall on Saturday night . Son says he wants to show `` another dimension of Iran ... to the Western people '' Nazeris ' music based on 13th-century Persian poet and philosopher Rumi .