Ajdad – Ancestors (Echoes of Persia)

Another record from a Western-based Iranian musician with the same familiar themes: mystical song titles, cross-cultural collaboration and, of course, self-othering. On his debut album, recorded with a Montréal-based ensemble, the talented santur player Amiri struggles to fulfil his compositional ambitions ‘to explore and celebrate the shared musical elements between Persian and Arabic traditions.’ The reality is a seemingly random selection of pieces: an oud solo followed by a conventional Iranian classical piece (‘Chahar Mezrab Abu Atta’) and a heavy polyphonic Iranian piece after a light-hearted, northern folkloric dance song. How do these pieces fit together? At one point, there is a sudden, unexplained modulation from mahoor to abuata (two distinct musical modes), made even more ironic to anyone interested in Iranian classical music by the fact that the track, ‘Chahar Pareh’, would have been the perfect link between the two since it is included in both abuata and mahoor repertoires. It leaves one begging the question: how can one keep the ‘cross-cultural’ element while creating a meaningful dialogue, not just placing cultures side by side?