Customer Reviews

Iranian Music: Saz-Eno

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In this album, Hossein Alizadeh once again refreshes ancient tradition with new vitality. Here, in the 3 sections, he plays tanbur, setar, and tar accompanied by the subtle, but driving, tombak and daf of Madjid Khaladj, and the smooth voice of Afsaneh Rasa'ii. The right blend of voice vs instruments, and fast vs slow, I enjoy this album a lot.

Madjid Khaladj provides such a finely tuned percussion accompaniment to the mater of strings Alizadeh and the smooth voiced Rassa'i that you wonder how could it be any better.

Khaladj's "reez" on the tombak shadows her highs and lows like a human chorus. Of course, this is a real surprise yet not a surprise if you know his mastery of the tombak and the daf (see the other CD's by him in the anthology series). He elevates the tombak to a fully vocalized instrument capable of having a voice like other traditional string and wind instruments.

It is also so fresh to hear Ms. Rassa'i again. For example, starting with the first cut she show her ability to weave in an out of the strictures of the generally down beat Abu-atta to provide an exceptinal brilliance to the system.

I recommend this CD very strongly to anyone who is interested in Iranian music. It is not a pop CD but shows off the ability of three masters in interpretting the traditional framework in fresh ways that feels like they are about to break it, but then you are surprised by the way they keep it intact.

This is straightforward Iranian classical music beginning in the avāz abouata, one of the seven main modes, and with further developments in the modes shur and navā. The master musicians are Hossein Alizādeh, who plays the various lutes called tār, tanbur, and sétār; Madjid Khaladj on the tomak and daf drums; and Afsāneh Rassā'i, who has a strong, fluid voice in her rendition of poetic song. It is a beautiful recording that builds momentum and mood. Musique de monde recordings from Buda, France, are often of high calibre and this album certainly is superior.

As I always expect, Hossein Alizadeh shows us a brilliant and new view of rich-melody persian music. In this CD, I also was able to hear Afsaneh Rasaa'ei's voce alone (for the first time). Highly recommended with the other album "Raz-e-no".