Persian classical, folk, and original music in the spirit of jazz.
We are a collective of musicians - now spanning two generations - who've been playing Iranian music in San Diego since 1985. Our goals, in addition to friendship and fun, include learning the musical tradition, fostering creativity, and crossing cultural bridges.
In May 2008 we went into the studio to professionally document some of the tunes we've played through the years. Working with multi-talented engineer/producer Jesse Plack, the idea gradually changed to creating an album we hoped would give a good representation of our sound and approach. The result, two years later, is way beyond what we originally planned.
The album we've come up with fits nicely on an LP – with one side in Mahûr and the other in Dashti and Shûr. The pieces are a mix of standards (from the classical radîf of Persian music) and folksongs, with a couple of originals. The Persian instruments are augmented by fretless bass, Persian-tuned keyboards, and occasional special effects. Vocal pieces are often performed instrumentally and vice versa. Some tunes have been stretched to make room for solos, and others shortened for a tighter arrangement. We are fortunate to have many of the players who have played with us through the years play somewhere on the album.
We hope you enjoy listening to this music as much as we did playing and recording it!
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Musicians:
Ali Sadr (daf)
Dara Bamoradi (qanûn)
Farhad Bahrami (tar)
Farzaneh Foroughi (daf, daireh)
Golsanam Fazel (santûr)
Hamid Radvar (Persian-tuned keyboard)
Kamron Bahrami (tombak)
Mahmood Shamshiri (ney, vocals)
Nima Heydari (fretless bass guitar)
Richard Steiger (modifed drumset, tabla)
Recorded at Monolith Studio by Jesse Plack.
Many thanks to all the musicians, our families, and our teachers.
This album is dedicated to the memory of Don Truesdail (1974-2009).
Cover art by the incredible Kia Talai.
o Two Lovers دو دلداده
A simple folk-like melody in Mahûr supported by a tone-row played in two speeds on top of which dances Golsanam's santûr.
Dedicated to young hearts.
o Masnavi مثنوی ماهور
A traditional piece in Mahûr from the vocal radîf arranged as an instrumental.
Verses from Rumi’s Masnavi are sung in several of the dastgah. The Masnavi in Mahûr, covers several important gûsheh, from which, for this arrangement, we’ve selected the following: Shekasteh and Delkesh. Though traditionally the Masnavi is sung freely based on the rhythm of the poetry, our arrangement sets each gûsheh in a different rhythmic cycle.
Features Farzaneh on daf and daireh, ney solo by Mahmood, and qanun solo by Dara.
I learned this piece and the next from Ostad Hossein Omoumi.
o Nasir نصیرخانی یا چهارپاره
Nasirkhani is a vocal form from the radîf. Here is it performed as an instrumental with solos for tar, qanûn, and keyboard (in gûsheh Eragh).
o Marhaba مرحبا
A song by the great songwriter AliAkbar Shayda (1844-1909) sung to a poem by Hafez.
Features Mahmood on vocals.
o Marjon رنگ مرجان
An original reng concluding Mahûr.
o Choopi رقص چوپی
Our arrangement of a composition in avaz Afshari by maestro Abolhasan Saba (1902-1957). Ostad Saba himself adapted the piece from a dance tune from Gilan.
Features a bass solo by Nima.
o Bolbol بلبل
Instrumental version of a song from Baluchestan. Modified slightly to fit into Afshari.
Features Richard on tabla.
o Malija زرد ملیجه
A famous piece in avaz Dashti by Ostad Saba, also originally adapted from a Gilaki folksong. Our version includes solos for tar, ney, santûr, and keyboard.
Famous recordings of this piece include the earliest by masters Payvar (santûr) and Tehrani (tombak), then by masters Lotfi (tar), Omoumi (ney), and Farhangfar (tombak), and recently by Ostad Omoumi (ney) with Kia (setar) and Zia (tombak) Tabassian.
o Karevan کاروان
Another famous piece (also in Dashti) by Ostad Saba (adapted from a reng by R. Mahjoubi). Saba was not only a talented composer, teacher, and multi-instrumentalist, but one of the first Iranian ethnomusicologists. During his travels (mostly in Gilan, where he founded the first conservatory of music in the early twentieth century), he collected and transcribed many folk melodies, which later made their way into his compositions.
The earliest recording of this piece is by the Iranian Radio orchestra for Golha program number 217. Other notable recordings are by masters Lotfi, Omoumi, and Farhangfar, and more recently, by Ostad Omoumi and the Tabassian brothers.
o Osul ضرب اصول
An instrumental piece from the radîf of Shûr, sung to a poem by Hafez
Features vocals by Farhad and Farzaneh and solos on daf, and modifed drumset.
A recent recording of this piece by Ostad Lotfi and Shayda Ensemble can be found on the album “Remembering Boroumand.”
o Vayemo وای مو
A folksong from Khorasan (in Shûr) from the 1st year honarestan textbook for tar/setar! Features an Octapad solo by Hamid.
o Zolfayar زلفای یار
Another folksong from Khorasan (also in Shûr) as a showcase for ney. I learned this tune from Ali Sadr and we played it with Darvak; only years later I heard the version arranged by master Payvar and sung by Sima Bina.
Features Ali on daf.
o Mastan مستان سلامت میکنند
An original song composed Feb-21-1999 in Afshari to a poem by Rumi.
Features Mahmood on vocals.
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