Mozafar Shafii & the Râst Ensemble

Iranian singer Mozafar Shafii was an early student of the well-known Mohammed Reza Shajarian. So Shafii is senior to the generation that has emerged during recent years – artists such as Homayoun Shajarian, Ali Reza Ghorbani (Top of the World in #71), Salar Aghili, Mohammad Motammedi and others. He is also stricter – more conservative in style – than both Shajarian senior and the younger generation.

This album contains two classical Persian suites: the dastgâh-e shur and the dastgâh-e Râst. The idea behind this recording was to let Shafii work with younger instrumentalists. All are virtuosi, arguably the most striking ones being the oud player Behnaz Behnam-Na, and the ney player, Mohammad Zali. Behnaz is female, and it’s worth noting that female vocal soloists are forbidden in current Iran, but female instrumentalists aren’t. The sung sections contain classical poems by Sa’di and Hafez, both of whose lyrics usually guarantee a certain amount of mystic rapture. However, Shafii opts for a quite introvert rendering. For those who are used to the ecstatic performances we have come to associate Iranian music with and those listeners unfamiliar with the language, this may be too much a contemplative side of Iranian music.

But maybe that is more in line with the original purpose of the music – to entertain aristocratic lovers of music and poetry in a courtly setting. He focuses on the pronunciation of the poetry and on his subdued vo cal embellishments. For the rest he gives ample space to the instrumentalists, who carefully work out the improvisations.