Kayhan Kalhor & Mohammad Reza Shajarian - Night Silence Desert

This Iranian recording features Kayhan Kalhor, a Kurdish-Iranian ostad (master) of the kamancheh and setar, and M.R. Shajarian, classical Persian vocalist and expert on both the dotar and ghooshmeh. Generally speaking, the recording is a longer suite based on folk and traditional/classical music of the Khorasan region of Iran and the Persian empire. Some of the music may be based on or at least strongly influenced by traditional Persian radif, described on wikipedia.org as "a collection of many old melodic figures preserved through many generations by oral tradition. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_radif, 11 September 2009) Kalhor's website goes into this more extensively:

"Like other Middle Eastern traditions, Persian classical music is based on the exploration of short modal pieces: in Iran these are known as gushehs and there are 200 or so gushehs in the complete radif. These gushehs are grouped according to mode into twelve modal “systems” called dastgah. A dastgah essentially comprises a progression of modally-related gus

hehs in a manner somewhat similar to the progression of pieces in a Baroque suite. Each gusheh has its own name and its own unique mode (but is related to other gushehs in the same dastgah) as well as characteristic motifs. The number of gushehs in a dastgah varies from as few as five in a relatively short dastgah such as Dashti, to as many as forty-four or more i

n a dastgah such as Mahur. The training of a classical musician essentially involves memorising the complete repertoire of the radif. Only when the entire repertoire has been memorised - gusheh by gusheh, dastgah by dastgah - a process which takes many years, are musicians considered ready to embark on creative digressions, eventually leading to improvisation itself. So the 

radif is not performed as such, but represents the starting point for creative performance and composition." (http://www.kayhankalhor.net, 11 September 2009)

 

While the suite does have a number of distinct movements, the music on this recording is segues throughout, with the strummed/plucked instruments often providing layers underneath other sounds - namely Kalhor's gorgeous kamancheh fiddling and Shajarian's voice.

The opening of the recording 

is simply the plucked 'layers' - the dotar (long-necked, two- string lute pictured on the right) and some setar (long-necked, four-string lute pictured on the left, related to the fi

rst tanburs); incidentally, the fourth string was apparently added sometime in the

18th century) adding additional spice. Later on in the recording, the setar is featured more as a solo instrument, with Kalhor playing a gorgeous instrumental, appropriately titled 

'Setar Instrumental.' Also backing the featured instruments throughout large chunks of the recording are the ghooshmeh (double-reed wind instrument), and some percussionists playing primarily membranophones. In particular, a frame drum with tambourine-like jingles is often used. From listening, this sounds like the doyra/doira, which Wikipedia refers to as the 'Dayereh.' The rhythms, which often feel like slightly-side-stepped 3/4 or 4/4 m

eters, provide fascinating grooves along with the drone strings, a perfect combination under which the soloists can flaunt their expertise. As for the primary instruments - Kalhor's kamancheh (bowed upright spike fiddle, pictured here with Kalhor on the right, which may have three or four strings made of silk or metal depending on when it was made) and Shajarian's voice (somewhere between a western baritone and tenor) - they weave in and out of the recording (both independently and not) like motifs in a symphony. Although they never completely lose sight of the root note (a Western 'A'), they often take long, melismatic tangents, sometimes even exchanging cadenza-like segments with each other, approaching and dancing around higher notes including half-flats (which can be tricky for the Western ear to grasp). While I realize that half-flats are internalized in Middle-Eastern musical cultures, it still amazes me at how adept the voice of an ostad (again, master) such as Shajarian is at nailing them with ultimate precision. In any case, the call-and-response/ exchange between his singing and Kalhor's kamancheh is especially apparent on 'Instrument and Vocal (Saz va Avaz),' the longest movement in the suite.

This being the first official blog post (and since I am rather rusty with ethnomusicological listening-based analyses), I don't want to get to much into my own interpretation and feelings about the recording, but I will certainly say that it is one of my favorites - and from a musical region of the world which I am still relatively unfamiliar with. The 'Setar Instrumental' movement mentioned above is one of the most trance-like, beautiful pieces I have ever heard, and one of the primary reasons why I continue to pop this recording into my stereo regularly. 

Last but certainly not least, I figured it was worth noting M.R. Shajarian's recent political activism pertaining to the Iranian election. This is taken directly from Wikipedia, so I'm not entirely sure of the source's acuracy: 

"After Iranian notorious presidential election on 12 June 2009, the legendary singer sided with the Iranian people. When Iranian unpopular president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the protests as "dust and trash", Shajarian participated in a telephone interview with BBC Persian channel and referred to himself and his voice as the voice of dust and trash: "It is the voice of dust and trash and it will always remain the voice of dust and trash." He also asked IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) to stop broadcasting his songs. He metioned that his famous song "Iran, Ey Saraye Omid" (Iran, the land of Hope), has no relation with the current situation of his country."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Shajarian, 11 September 2009)

Finally, I wanted to mention that in general, I am trying to be relatively accurate in citing my own sources, but certainly they are questionable at best (particularly anything taken from Wikipedia). While I look forward to getting better about this in the future, the personal purpose of this kind of blog is more of an attempt and preparing myself for a future in ethno, so even reading wiki-entries on instruments and classical traditions is helpful.