Customer Reviews

As Night Falls on the Silk Road

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although this is not the last of the three Gazal it seems to draw on elements of the other albums to produce some powerful emotional music. The fourth track is far and away the best. I listen to it and I hear a storyteller inviting his listeners to sit down and hear a sad tale. The story of a lost love unfolds - so sad and riven with emotion. As if by telling the story the pain is eased and some faultering confidence returns. Gradually this confidence is reinforced and builds for the music to finish triumphally leaving me absolutely drained. It is simply and amazing piece of music and my best discovery on Amazon so far.

This is really a fantastic piece of work, and the amazing thing is, these guys don't rehearse much; it's almost all improvised. The "dialogue" between the kamancheh and sitar is enhanced by the skill of Kayhan Kalhor and Shujaat Husain Khan. And the tabla is perfectly executed by Swapan Chaudhuri. The best of the three Ghazal CDs.

This is one of the most fantastic, relaxing, dreamy CD's you will ever own...I plan on buying the other 2 as soon as possible.
I have a wide range of musical favorites, from Godflesh to old school punk to The Chemical Brothers...Ghazal seems to speak to me for some reason. You can put this CD in and just float through the whole set mesmerized. I have no other way to describe it.
awesome

There are many parts of this cd that stick in my head long after listening to it but one part of "Snowy Mountains" brings tears simply for the emotion and depth of interplay between the musicians - this is what jazz is all about.

I particularly enjoy the different sounds of the instruments and the way they create such a haunting soundscape. The recording quality is quite high (although I wish that Waterlily had recorded it on their analog gear similar to "Saltanah") and balances out the instruments.

I doubt you'll be sorry if you purchase this disc.

Ghazal has produced a timeless combination of music that is like
vipassana meditation which recognizes the divinity in all of life. The sitar, kamanche, and tabla are for the most part the only instruments. As the mind listens to each instrument, interplay, and create harmonies, an ecstatasy of enchantment arises and creates waves of bliss ... this bliss lasts for hours after listening. If opening your chakras means anything to you, this CD will do it: your heart will expand wider & wider into a state of love for *ALL* of life. You will realize existence is precious. I agree with former reviewers: "Snowy Mountain" is my favorite. The music resonates with my very being and makes me very happy. This music is similar to Sufi mediatation music --- it is probably the closest thing to a mystical experience some of us will ever have! Don't hesitate ... BUY IT! Erika Borsos (erikab93)

I found Ghazal's live recording -The Rain- to be a mesmerizing fusion of Persian music with Indian Raga(5-stars). But I have been disappointed with other recordings that I have sought out,for the simple reason that I find Ghazal's repertoire to be surprisingly limited.This disc for example has only the 3rd track that is "new",the other 3 tracks are variations of what is on the live recording. Same melodic lines with fresh improvised structures.Sure,this is a fine recording with outstanding musicianship and thus will serve to treat the first time listener with a delightful experience. however, Iam sad to say that one only needs to own any one of their recordings and that is all. It is a repetitious-repertoire...on disc,however,this music really lives on the stage,it is a living-tradition that perhaps was never meant to be "recorded".

I have got many CDs of Persian music but I consider this one the most beatiful among them.
The sound experience of the players and the mastery of instruments show through the whole album but it's in "Traces of the Beloved" (4th track) that you can find confirmation of that.
If I were in everyone of you fans of persian music, I'd buy this CD with no hesitation at all. It lasts almost 75 minutes and you enjoy every moment.
You can clearly notice how well Kalhor and Husain Khan play their improvisations with one mind and one heart. There are moments in which one player leaves way to the other and viceversa.
Tip: the first time you listen to this CD, don't be envolved in other mansions. Just list to the music and let your mind fly hand in hand with the setar of Sujaat Husain Khan.

"As Night Falls on the Silk Road" is incredibly superior to its predecessor, "Lost Songs of the Silk Road." While the first record was great (good enough to make me drive 500 miles to go to one of their concerts----and yes, it was worth it) this one contains a depth only hinted at on the first release. By the time "As Night Falls..." came out, the two players had known each other a lot longer and had played together a lot more. The first album was a grand experiment that worked, but "As Night Falls on the Silk Road" contains a depth rarely seen in music these days. I've literally shed tears at the beauty of this music (the only other music in recent memory to make me do that is composer John Tavener's "The Protecting Veil"). This album shows that Shujaat Khan & Kayhan Kalhor's wonderful experiment isn't just a once-off lucky hit. They're forging a new art form. Most of these "cross-cultural" experiment albums grow tiresome after a few months, but I've been listening to Ghazal now for YEARS and it only gets better. This is one of the proverbial "5 albums I'd take to a deserted island."

The fourth track on this CD, "Traces of the Beloved," is one of the most daring flights of improvisational music I've ever heard - a twenty-seven minute duet between two musicians of distinct traditions, each pushing his instrument to its outer limits of virtuosity and expressiveness, each 'comping' brilliantly to the other's riffs, merging their two styles into a kind of music never heard before. Kayhan Kalhor, a Kurd trained in Persian classical music, plays the kamancheh (the spike fiddle), a bowed string instrument with a long neck held vertical. Shujaat Husain Khan is the seventh generation master of the sitar, played in the style of the Imdad Khan Gharana of northern India. Persian and North Indian music certainly share roots but to bring them together is a bold experiment. Shujaat also sings briefly during this astonishing track, a poem of his own about love-passion. The song structures and centers the improv. Later the two melody instruments are joined by percussion, a tabla played with ferocious virtuosity to match the passion of the sitar and kamancheh.

The other three tracks on this CD are hot stuff too, and I was already planning a five-star review as I listened to them, but Traces of the Beloved has erased all trace of them from my mind. Honestly, I wouldn't have believed that such flourishes of fire were physically possible on either of those two odd ancient instruments. The only comparison I can offer is to jazz, and to the best of jazz at that - Charlie Parker and Lester Young perhaps, or Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, when two great players push each other to higher levels of imagination.

I got this disc on the recomendation and result of reading some of the reviews here, most notably by "peperflower." As a result I was very satisfied and play this disc whenever I need that break from reality to ease into another state of mind;it always works. The colloboration of Persian and Indian music that is meditative is an experience that should be experienced by all world music lovers. The peaceful harmonies are foreign but familiar. If you read the names of the songs you get the picture. The improvisation by the musicians and mesmerizing vocals is perfect music for reflection. The tablas and sitar couple beautifully with the kamancheh(spike fiddle) to create an ancient sound that is timeless. This music takes you on a journey; on a soujourn of the soul and it's inner workings. Somehow peace comes through all the surrounding chaos of our existence when you listen to your heartbeat and the music of Kayhan Kalhor & Shujarat Husain Khan. This is a masterpiece of improvisation that rivlaies the greatest jazz and blues musicians of the western world. Listen to this disc and find your peace. Peace be with you.