Mn Bo To

Iranian brothers Marouf and Gian Majidi lead the BaranBand from Finland. The Majidis are Kurds and the liner notes for this album suggest they draw upon the Persian and European classical music they learned as children growing up in in western Iran. Gian is the vocalist, while Marouf plays tar (lute) and several Finnish musicians contribute violin, bass, percussion, keyboards, accordion and guitar. The album starts with the uptempo title-track – its Latin rhythm hinting at tango – then leads into ‘Be To’, a more Eastern-flavoured tune. There are big choruses and lots of solos throughout; some songs sound Russian, others Middle Eastern. At times this works, but more often things feel unfocused. What is obvious is that BaranBand's sound is overly eclectic and there's too much going on. These problems often happen with world music fusion bands as they try to demonstrate all the different styles they have incorporated. If they relaxed and stripped things back to a more acoustic, less busy sound, they might develop a stronger musical identity.