|
Remembrance begins with the sound of a high lonesome harmonica, more in the sonic image of the American west than one might expect from Iranian-born artist Mamak Khadem. But then the rhythm section slides in under keyboards and the words of 13th Century Persian poet Saadi Shirazi come slowly to your ear.
When you dance the whirling dance,
you are a cypress tree;
when you appear in a tale
you are the moon;
when you’re present at my side,
you are the dawn;
when you arrive in our midst
you are the source of light.
As Khadem writes, this is “a musical journey to remembrance, healing the huge loss of my beloved father, Mohsen Khadem... Being unable to be by his side was profoundly difficult, yet for so many immigrants in our world, life itself is like an infinity of limitations.” In these eight songs, written during the pandemic, isolated from family, the words of poets ancient and modern are brought to life in a album of rich, droning music and a voice filled with both pain and hope.
“Entangled” begins with a horn-like staccato and a swirl of synthesizers, as she sings in multiple voices the words of the most famous of Persia's poets, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī.
One hand holding a cup of wine,
one hand caressing my beloved’s hair
I yearn to dance in this way, in vast, open fields.
Each song on the album is its own highway, each path feeling different underfoot, as Khadem travels through her own sense of grief, seeking wisdom in memory. Unlike her previous work like The Road, which was emphatically acoustic and tinged with the sound of tradition, Remembrance is appropriately contemporary, synthesizer heavy, only punctuated by instruments from east and west. It creates the otherworldly effect so necessary for this trip.
The journey ends with another poem by Rumi, recited in English by American poet and academic Coleman Barks, the original sung by Khadem accompanied on piano and synths with touches of strings and percussion. It is the most painful, but also the most joyous work on this evocative album.
Don't go without me,
Dancing in the ecstasy of leaving
soul of my soul,
Don't go without me.
Laughing with your friends, you enter the garden.
Don't go without me.
The two worlds are joyous because of you.
Don't stay in this world without me.
Don't go to the next without me.
As you travel this world and the other,
Don't go anywhere without me!
I am the night.
You are the moon in my empty sky.
Don't go without me.
You are a rose.
I am your thorn.
Don't go without me.
|
