Our Garden Is Alone

Opener ‘Leyli’s Garden’, heralded by a breathy flourish on the ney, is a personal and heartfelt homage to Vahdat’s late mother, alternating lines of regret with feelings of affirmation, while referencing the Persian love story of Leyli and Majnun. The emotions are multi-layered and beautiful. I suspect that the gardens of this album are metaphors for Iran.

Iranian singer Vahdat lives in exile in the US because of the restrictions placed on women singing in Iran. This is her third solo album. Producer and arranger Bugge Wesseltoft is a leading jazz musician in Norway, the home of the KKV label, which has released the music of Vahdat and her sister Mahsa since 2003. The album was created virtually during periods of lockdown. The Norwegian musicians (Wesseltoft on piano, accordion and keyboards), plus bass and percussion, are very restrained, while the important solos are taken by Iranian musicians on ney (Pasha Hanjani) and kamancheh (Shervin Mohajer). Lyrics are written by Vahdat herself, contemporary Iranian poets and Rumi, while the music is sometimes drawn from traditional pieces from regions of Iran with rich traditional culture like Khorasan and Lorestan. ‘Singing Pigeon’, which includes some of the liveliest instrumental playing, draws on religious music from Armenia. The mood is predominantly melancholic, but this is an album of contemplation and reflection from exile with a profound emotional truth. The release includes lyrics in Persian and translations in English.