The Whole Music Experience

World   Shujaat Husain Khan, Katayoun Goudarzi,   Abhiman Kaushal and Ajay Prasanna   Spring   (no label)   To say that Spring by Hindustani sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan and Iranian vocalist Katayoun Goudarzi is a “heart” album barely describes the listening experience.   Combining the ancient Sufi poet Rumi’s soulful language with the strains of Indian sitar, bansuri flute (Ajay Prasanna) and gentle tabla beats (Abhiman Kaushal), these musicians aim for spiritual Oneness and achieve it.   Certainly, I would love to have the Rumi text in front of me while listening to this double CD recording, but even closing my eyes and allowing the voices and instruments to float over and around me takes me to a meditative place.   Yâr with its lilting melody, repetitive poetry line, and delicious beats as well as, passionate Spring (titular track), stand out as favorites for me.   The first song mentioned features vir...

Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat Twinklings of hope Kirkelig Kulturversted (Norway) Not legally permitted to share their immaculate vocals with the Iranian public, the Vahdat sisters have recorded and released albums on the Norwegian label, Kirkelig Kulturversted.   In 2003, founder of KKV, Erik Hillestad, discovered the Iranian sister vocalists when he produced the album Lullabies from the Axis of Evil .   The album that brought light to the humanity present in the countries the former US President George Bush, Jr. deemed evil, launched the Vahdat sisters’ international career.   Since that time, the Vahdat sisters have released several recordings on KKV and their latest, Twinkling of hope features ancient and contemporary Persian/Iranian poetry performed on traditional instruments and sung in a traditional voice. The irony of the Iranian government’s law forbidding women to sing in public ensures that the Iranian people experience only half of their humanity....

Arianna Savall Peiwoh AliaVox I was never a fan of harp music until a few years ago when the editor of World Music Central sent me a sample of Spanish harpist and mezzo-soprano Arianna Savall’s music. Later, I acquired Arianna’s first solo album, Bella Terra , which also refers to her homeland in Catalonia, Spain. Arianna’s music cannot be easily described since it has absorbed elements from Arabic and Eastern music along with elements from European early music, in fact, the musician plays a baroque harp. She sings in Catalan, a Romance language nearly lost during the Franco era and related to France’s Provencal language, according to the DK Guide to Spain (Eyewitness Travel Guides). Arianna with her choice of poetic text and performance of soprano vocals with harp gives off an angelic aura. Her music so carefully rendered with baroque instruments (lutes, percussion, harps) and mixed with traditional instruments such as Petter Johansen’s hardingfele (Norwegian fiddle) l...