Customer Reviews

Night Silence Desert

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This CD has to rank among the "cream of the crop" of contemporary renditions of taditional Persian music. I own a large selection of them and this is one of my most favorite. The lyrics are based on poems by such luminaries as H.A. Sayeh, Attar, and Baba Taher. The song "Baran" is nostalgic, sad and mesmerising.... I have to stop whatever I'm doing and just sink into this song. Kalhor is a magnificent artist and kamanche player -- i've seen him live in concert. Shadjarian is unrivaled. The dotar by hadj ghorban soleimani is great but doesn't really stand out in this CD -- he and his music are authentic folk music of N. Khorassan (which province in Iran i'm from :) i recommend buying his own CD. The CD insert contains a detailed description of the various instruments, all poems in the original Farsi as well as English translations. All in all a magnificent production and masterly composition from the poems to the vocals to the music. This is truely a gem of craftsmanship and artistary and i'm proud to be able to recomment it. :)

This is the CD that moved Simin Behbahani, Iran's preeminent living poetess, to utter "My heart was beating fast with every note of the tar and my throat was choking up." [p.13 in "Kojast Fekre Hakimi?", Ketab Corp, LA, 2003]

One need not be steeped in the traditions of Persian/Iranian music to perceive the beauty and mastery of the musicians and music on this CD. From my perspective, when one reaches a certain level of artistic excellent, it is foolhardy to split hairs over whether one is listening to a "good" recording rather than a "great" one. For me, this music--hauntingly evocative, spiritual, and luminous in its beautiful complexity--is of the highest order of artistry.

This is a recording one can listen to repeatedly, each time discovering new nuances and patterns missed before. Highly recommended.

NIGHT SILENCE DESERT is described in the notes to this CD as a `Khorasan suite' - Khorasan, Iran's largest province, located in the eastern part of the country and home to Masshad, the nation's holiest city, can be roughly translated as `the place where the sun rises'. Kayhan Kalhor has composed the music on this disc based on the classical and folk musics of Khorasan, inspired by his love for the form. The notes that accompany the disc go into great detail concerning the differences and similarities between the classical and folk forms - but rather than writing like a cold theoretician, Kalhor's respect and passion for the music makes the explanation interesting reading.

Kalhor is a master performer on the kemancheh (the traditional bowed lute of the region, widely used in Arab and Middle Eastern music) and setar (a 4-stringed plucked lute) - he is joined here by an exceptionally talented ensemble featuring dotar (a 2-stringed lute), barbat (oud), santur (an instrument similar to the Western hammered dulcimer), nay (a reed flute), ghooshmeh (a double-reed flute), cello, and assorted percussion instruments. The ten tracks on the disc flow together wonderfully - sometimes so smoothly that the listener might not notice the track has changed until the subtle shifts in mood and melody become apparent.

The words sung in the four vocal sections are, like the music, a mixture of ancient and modern - two are by masters from the 11th and 13th century, and two are by contemporary poets. The ghazal form of lyrical expression is one of the most moving and beautiful to be found in the world - and while the pieces on this disc are not sung in English, there are translations provided. The emotions expressed in the poetry are given glorious flight by the voice of Shajarian, one of the most respected vocalists in Persian music today - listening to his performances here, it's easy to understand why he is so revered.

Far from being a `fusion' disc, the music here (at least to my untrained ears) remains true to the essence of Persian classical music. This album is a real treat.

Night Silence Desert is my favorite CD, even though I have never listened to Persian music before and do not understand one word. I listen to it every day at work, while I sit at my computer. I find the fascinating sounds most soothing, calming and relaxing during my usually stressful 11-12 hour work days. Not only will you cherish the classical and folk music performed by Mohammad Reza Shajarian, but you will be treated to a magnificently written history and explanation of the musical instruments and beautiful, romantic poetry (both old and new) that you hear.

Honestly, those who prefer Nazeri or Eftekhari rather than Shajarian do not have a full understanding of Persian Classical Music. Shajarian has not only performed the best pieces, he improved persian classical music. IN this piece he performs persian classical music with a mixture of classical persian music and folk type music from Khorasan. He works with the some of the best performers of Iran. Among them are: Kayhan Kalhor, the mastter of Kamancheh. Was the man who wrote all the songs for this album, also played kamancheh and setar Hossein Behroozinia, opens the album by playing his barbat. He sounds great on this album. Ardavan Kamkar, who plays the santur beautifully in this album. Bijan Kamkar, probably the best Daf player in Iran, played magnificently. Behzad Foroughary, plays the Ney in a way which nobody can reject to.

Another good thing about this album is that Haj Ghorban Soleimani and his son both play Dotar on this album and it sounds spectacular.

The Baroon tasnif which is the first par of the album is spectacular, it shows that Shajarian never gives out albums that sound the same as this is completely different then his earlier works. IN the second part of the album the first "ghateh" or piece is magnificent piece and in my opinion the finest ghateh in persian music. After that piece he goes in to an "avaz" which can be an impromptu or just a slow non-meldoical song. After that he goes in to the tasnif "AY Ashegha" which is also magical, i shake when i hear "Zanjir o Zendan Beshkaneh...."

if u listen to anykind of music this is a must get.

... besides threats and diatribes. Study its history and you'll soon realize that ancient Persia has almost as good a claim to be the "cradle of Western civilization" as Hellenic Greece. Iran has a 'deep' and continuous cultural tradition rivaled only by China. Persia was and Iran is, whether friend or foe, the pivot of the Middle East. Conquered in turn by Alexander and his Macedonians, by the Arab armies of Islam, and economically in modern times by the Anglo/American alliance, in the first two cases Iran/Persia was able to turn the tables and establish cultural equality with the Alexandrian Hellenes and cultural hegemony over the Arabs.

A part of Iran's great culture is a musical tradition of sophistication and variety, from the folk musicians of rural Khorastan to the 'classical' musicians of he royal courts and then the urban centers. Kayhan Kalhor is a contemporary musician/composer, a Kurd trained in the classical Persian tradition of 'radif', but dedicated to reinvigorating Iranian music by blending the rural folk and urban sophisticate. Kalhor's own instrument is the kamancheh, the so-called spike-fiddle. For this CD of his own compositions, Kalhor has recruited skilled players of most of the instruments of Iran - the dotar (long-necked lute), the ghoosmeh (double-reed flute), barbat (oud), santar (hammered dulcimer), nay (notch-blown flute), setar (sitar), tar (another plucked lute), and various drums. Even more boldly, he combines his own distinct compositional style with the singing of Khorasani Mohammed Reza Shajarian, the acclaimed master of the classical Persian vocal repertoire.

One of the hall marks of Persian music is its basic scale, featuring a 'flat' second. (Imagine a Western scale in which the DO is F-sharp and the RE is G-natural.) This flat second is subject to all kinds of bending and shading in microtones, and in fact microtonal intervals are what make Persian/Arabic music sound distinctive to western ears.

The moods of this performance flow subtly from suppressed passion to exuberance, with never a pause for any mere relaxation. The desert at night has certainly been a determining ambience in the history of Persia. I promise you'll hear it in the music of Kalhan Kalhor.

With this beautiful album, Kayhan Kalhor hoped to bring more of a traditional (rather than solely art-music) musical slant into the art music of Iran. As he states in the liner notes (and rightly so), it's not folk music, as folk music is the music by and for the people... the people who work and sing all day, and play at night. This is a concept that is the same in the USA. There is "folk music" as a genre... populated by the Kingston Trio and Joan Baez, etc... and then there is the real folk music... music played by people who broke their backs at work on railroad tracks, in coal mines, in prisons, etc... That is the heart of folk music no matter where you are in the world. Spiritual subsistence music. Kayhan wanted to bring some of that spirit and some of that melodic feel back into Iranian classical styles. He was successful.

A huge part of this success is of course due to Mohammad Reza Shajarian. His style and degree of vocal control maybe unmatched (At least in terms of men. Oftentimes I greatly prefer women singers over their male counterparts) by all but a few other men on the whole planet.

Kayhan really is the spark behind all of this, though. Mohammad is the voice, but Kahyan is the reason this exists at all. His kamancheh playing is, as usual, gorgeous... and you also get a larger glimpse into his setar playing than is usual, at least by the standards of his other discs that I own. Although if i remember correctly, my favorite instance of his setar playing is on the Yo-Yo Ma Silk Road disc. I need to pop that one in again. It's been a while.

This isn't his most well-recorded disc... it's certainly not at the level of the 2 Ghazal albums I have, or Scattering Stars Like Dust, but I think the quality of the performance makes up for it.

This album is absolutely exquisite. It is so beautiful, so moving, that I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. I am hoping to find other albums featuring the artists on this CD. I Would especially love to find other albums featuring the singer; Mohammad Reza Shajarian. His voice moves me to tears, it is so expressive, so very beautiful.
This CD is definately one of the best that I have ever purchased.

I can well imagine this CD playing on the sound system of a Persian restaurant in either Tehran or New York City. What really gets me is that Windows Media Player, in finding this one in its Internet database, classifies it under "New Age"(!!!). Sorry, folks, but this is definitely NOT New Age music. Rather, "ageless" might describe it more accurately--how else to describe the interplay between Kayhan Kalhor's masterful kamancheh playing, Mohammed Reza Shajarian's rich vocals, and the playing of the other various stringed instruments featured (dotar, setar [not to be confused with a sitar--two different instruments], zither, to name a few)? It is atmospheric, it is beautiful, but it definitely keeps the listener involved and AWAKE, thank you very much. One of a number of entry points to Persian classical music that I would highly recommend.

"Night Silence Desert" is a treasure - pure heaven to listen to. The exquisite spiritual beauty and true loving instrumental/vocal mastery of this work is a collector's item - one of the best in Persian music. For me, it reflects the timeless grace and delight of Persian art and culture. I can easily listen to this CD again and again.