New York (CNN) -- Diplomacy hasn'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."
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Hafez Nazeri and his father Shahrem play hybrid of Iranian and Western music
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They played for enthusiastic crowd at Carnegie Hall on Saturday night
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Son says he wants to show "another dimension of Iran ... to the Western people"
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Nazeris' music based on 13th-century Persian poet and philosopher Rumi
It's very simple in presentation: a cello, percussion and an improvised setar -- a Persian instrument like a lute -- played by @placeholder.