Album Notes

Shabdiz (duet for two santours in three movements) is a program music telling the story of a pre-Islamic black horse belonging to the Persian King of Khosro Parviz. Shabdiz was so favored by the King that he kept it on top of a mountain and threatened to behead anyone who would bring the news of its death. Time passed and Shabdiz eventually fell dead. Nobody had the courage to tell the King about the unfortunate news. They eventually reached out to Barbod, King’s court musician, who composed such a sad song that when he played it in front of the King, he whispered “It sounds so sad as if my Shabdiz is dead.”, Barbod then cleverly responded: “That’s what YOU said, your majesty!”

The Passionate, the Truthseeker, the Contemplator and the Compassionate are all santour solo pieces composed by Pejman Azarmina in early 1990s and debuted at Master Faramarz Payvar’s private concert series. The themes and melodies are deeply rooted in Persian traditional music repertoire but their forms and techniques make them distinctly different from any traditional-sounding music. The names mirror the contents that vividly reflect an internal journey of an individual in search of truth, wisdom and love.

The santour (also spelled santur and santoor) is a trapezoidal box zither, or more commonly known as a hammered dulcimer, played with two light wooden mallets. The typical Persian santour has 72 strings stretched over two sets of nine bridges for the bass and treble registers respectively. Across the world, the santour is a popular instrument for playing traditional, early music or folk songs while the Persian santour is considered a classical instrument taught widely at music conservatories and university programs and is an integral part of a Persian music ensemble.

Pejman Azarmina (born in 1973, Tehran) is a composer and santour player based in New York. He started studying the santour at age 11 with Master Faramarz Payvar (1933-2009) and graduated from his private class after completing the ‘Advanced Repertoire for the Santour’ in 1994. Azarmina’s works include Shabdiz, Old Persian Dances (Renghaye 7 Dastgah), Rebellious Solitude, Persian Nostalgia as well as several unpublished song cycles and quartets. In addition to recitals in Tehran and London, he has given many educational concerts at a number of academic institutions across the UK. Azarmina’s style of performance is perhaps one of the closest to that of late Master Payvar, yet his interpretation of Persian music is very lean, expressive, and contemporary.

Credits:
Composer and publisher: Pejman Azarmina
Santour: Pejman Azarmina, Tombak: Siamak Banai
Recorded at Studio Bell by Manouchehr Riahi (Tehran, 1994)
Recording Supervisor: Master Faramarz Payvar
Restored by Bernard Fox and re-mastered by Sam Skaf
Design: Pejman Azarmina inspired by Albert Bierstadt’s Black Horse