Customer Reviews

Dastgah Chahargah

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

 

 

This album is worth the purchase for the first track alone; it is epic, constantly re-inventing itself throughout the entire 11-plus minutes by adding new instruments, new layers, new textures throughout. The entire album could as easily be thought of as a soundtrack as it can be considered art music.

I didn't give it five stars because the singer, Mohammad Reza Shadjarian, although technically excellent, sometimes seems a bit uninspired--I don't think that he is quite The Master of Persian classical singing, as the liner notes would make him out to be. Instead of the centerpiece of the musical experience, as the vocalist tends to be in Near Eastern music, he instead comes across as somewhat incidental to the Dastgah as a whole. Don't get me wrong, however--there are a few times when his voice is raised in passionate acrobatics...these moments are to be treasured because they are few and far between.

While it is normally the vocalist on any given album that snags me and keeps my attention, here my attention was given to the instrumentalists. They play with passion, and possess an amazing ear for variety and color in their tonal paintings. Remarkably dramatic, and vastly absorbing.

I think this is an excellent example of Classical Persian Music. The singer is indeed the unsurpassed master vocalist of Iran. The musicians are some of the best Iran has to offer. The majority of the album is performed in a rhythm-free and improvised fashion, except for three pieces. These rhythm-free sections are dominated by Shajarian's unsurpassed vocals and instruments responding to his voice.

The album begins with an epic and even tragic instrumental opening which leads us into the first vocal section. Then the instruments take over again with a famous and catchy Classical Persian melody called "Dokhtarak-e julideh." Then we are taken into the second vocal section. The album ends with the vocalist and instruments all coming together to perform a rhythmic "Tasnif" or classical song.

The performance is in the "Dastgah" (mode) of "Chahargah." The arrangement of the performance is the correct and formal way a "dastgah" should be executed when performing Classical Persian Music.