Reviews

1325 Ibn Battutah

Syriana

Following a near 14-year break, Syriana return with their first full-length album since 2010’s acclaimed debut The Road to Damascus....

Reviewed in issue April/2024

Hjirok

HJirok

HJirok is a collaboration between Iranian-Kurdish singer Hani Mojtahedy and producer Andi Toma from the German IDM (intelligent dance music)...

Reviewed in issue April/2024

Dream

Mitra Sumara

US-based bandleader of Mitra Sumara, Yvette Massoudi, covers 60s and 70s Iranian pop. Notably she pays tribute to the popular...

Reviewed in issue April/2024

Wusul

Shay Hazan

With his debut solo album, 2021’s Reclusive Rituals, Tel Aviv-based bassist and composer Shay Hazan revealed a simple idea: harnessing...

Reviewed in issue April/2024

Crystal Lexicon

Mohammadali Najafpour

There really is some excellent and inspiring stuff coming out of Tehran these days and Crystal Lexicon is no exception....

Reviewed in issue December/2023

Essentials

Rastak

We often associate Iranian music with long, melancholy pieces. But Persian culture is rich in folkloric music as well, rooted...

Reviewed in issue December/2023

Monajat

Galeet Dardashti & Younes Dardashti

Galeet Dardashti is the US-based granddaughter of Younes Dardashti, a pre-revolutionary master singer of Persian classical music, who performed at...

Reviewed in issue December/2023

Zartir

The Gurdjieff Ensemble | The Gurdjieff Ensemble & Levon Eskenian

George Gurdjieff (c 1867-1949) was a philosopher, mystic and composer, whose music is generally known through the transcriptions of the...

Reviewed in issue December/2023

KÖY

AySay

AySay is a Danish/Kurdish/Turkish trio led by Luna Bülow Ersahin, who is known for creating pop music drawn from traditional...

Reviewed in issue December/2023

A Memento of Istanbul

Saeed Nayeb Mohammadi

A Memento of Istanbul is an excellent solo oud album by top Iranian player Saeed Nayeb Mohammadi. It’s the opening...

Reviewed in issue December/2023