Psalms of Loneliness

The tanbur is a sacred instrument for many Kurdish people. It has a powerful voice, as a statement of cultural identity and, for some, as a part of religious practice. It's a saz-type long necked lute with three strings and a gritty, but sonorous tone, rendered percussive by the scratches and beats of the fingers. Seyed Ali Jaberi is a player in his 30s who has produced a very accessible disc without losing the burning fire that lies within this music.

Hermes Records might be described as the ECM of Iran, featuring as it does high-quality artists working in unconventional ways. This album has a black and white cover, as ECM usually do, with an image that looks like a still from a Bahman Ghobadi movie in Iranian Kurdistan. Jaberi's tanbur is heard alongside vocals from Meghdad Shah-Hosseini, occasional ney (flute) and kamancheh (fiddle) and powerful percussion. There are moments when string arrangements make the music sound a little bland – a real shame on the beautiful fourth track, All Because of Love’. But there's an intensity and sincerity about this record that makes it very powerful, particularly when the tanbur is to the fore. When all the attention focused on Iran is dominated by politics, let's remember and support those who continue to produce good music.