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Vas evocative vocalist Azam Ali renders innovative interpretations of medieval sacred and love songs, masterfully weaving traditional European period instruments hurdy-gurdy, rebec, and vielle with the rich vocal ornamentation and instruments of her own Middle Eastern heritage.
Featuring the renowned percussionist Greg Ellis, this eclectic assemblage includes exquisite songs in French, Latin, Arabic, Judeo-Spanish, and Galician, as well as instrumentals from Brittany and Sweden. Exotic and atmospheric,
it is perfect world music listeners as well as aficionados of early music, classical, and ambient/new age/goth sensibilities.
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Having been born in Iran and growing up in India, I was introduced to the music of medieval Europe only after arriving in the United States in 1985. What initially struck me about the music was how similar the melodic sensibilities were to the music of my heritage. I could not help but feel the same shudder of awe when I first heard the music of Hildegard Von Bingen as I did when I was a child walking by temples in India and hearing prayers and chants sung through the sound of ringing bells. I felt that, even though the musical approach was quite different due to cultural differences, the root desire of the music to commune with God and sing his praises evoked the same sentiments. At other times I feel this music strikes a chord within me that is as old as my soul itself and transcends the confines and myths of illusory time and space.
It is hard for me to regard this body of work as a solo debut, given that these are all traditional pieces which have been around since before my lifetime and have been interpreted or recorded by numerous musical theorists and performers. I think of this album rather as a small detour from my work with Vas, not only to pay tribute to some of the music and composers that have inspired me on my musical journey, but to explore through these compositions the correlation between the music of medieval Europe and the music of the Arab world.
Azam Ali
Also available as a member of Vas
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1 |
Lasse
pour quoi (early 14th century, French |
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2 |
La
Serena (Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish) |
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3 |
Breton
Medley (instrumental, Brittany) |
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4 |
O
Felix (12th century, Latin) |
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5 |
Ben
pode Santa Maria (13th century, Galician-Portuguese) |
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6 |
O
quanta qualia (12th century, Latin) |
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7 |
Sackpipslδt
(instrumental, Sweden) |
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8 |
Aj
ondas (early 14th century, Galician) |
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9 |
A
chantar m'er (late 12th century, French) |
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10 |
Inna-l-Malak
(Byzantine, Arabic) |
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11 |
El
rey de Francia (Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish) |
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| Artists
and Instrumentation |
| Azam
Ali vocals, hammered dulcimer |
Greg
Ellis frame drum, riq, dumbek, bells, keyboards, tuned
gong and bowls, vocal drones,
karkarba, cajon, nagara |
| Ethan
James hurdy gurdy, nyckelharpa |
| Shira
Kammen rebek, vielle |
| Dann
Torrez saz |
| Naser
Musa oud |
| Cameron
Stone cello |
| Pejman
Hadadi tombak, daf |
| Nicole
Baker soprano voice |
| Mark
Beasom bass voice |
| George
Stearne tenor voice |
| Chris
Bleth duduk |
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