Saturday 19 January 2013

Mahsa Vahdat & Mighty Sam McClain - A Deeper Tone of Longing: Love Duets Across Civilizations



Musical Merging

Cross-cultural it may be, and the Classical Persian/American Blues dichotomy is distinct, but there is also a perfect musical coalescence in this pairing. Mahsa Vahdat’s Farsi lyrics and vocals are beautiful, and the ‘yodel’ inflection in the singing captivating. The dominating instruments are the Persian kamancheh and ney, played respectively by Pasha Hanjani and Shervin Mohajer, and the Western horn of Mathias Eick, member of the predominantly Norwegian band. Mighty Sam McClain’s vocal is more jazz standard than bluesy, but it is an elegant tenor counterpoint.

Opener A Deeper Tone of Longing sets the principal tone, a beautiful ballad begun by the mesmerising, meandering voice of Vahdat, and then McClain sings his chorus with the kamancheh played plaintively behind its strength. There is the one and only element of funk in second track When You Came which McClain begins, again with such clarity and strength. Jazz guitar takes over from the kamancheh and the funk riff is accompanied with a ‘hey, hey, hey’ chorus.

There is an over-earnest and therefore jarring lyric to fifth track Sun of Iran, but otherwise the music is gently and meticulously appealing. Sixth We Are Sailors has a folk tone to its melody and storytelling, and seventh My Heart Doesn’t Know Borders has a wonderful folk/blues slide guitar layer over which the melody is sung in quickly alternating vocals – perhaps the finest example of this clever pairing.

No comments:

Post a Comment