Comments for Amir Baghiri, Ghazal

It is eastern ambient electronica at its best!!

Amir Baghiri is one of the more prolific ambient artists in the genre. With over twenty-eight solo records and countless collaborations and film scores, one would expect the quantity to win out over the quality. Wrong. Baghiri has avoided monotony by delving into the many facets of the genre, from abstract, noise, minimal, experimental, dark and tribal ambient. His newest solo record, Yalda, fits predominantly into the last category. It is a haunting and pounding concept record based on the eastern desert and a regenerative winter solstice celebration. His previous solo record was also based on a concept--that of dreams, and the aiding of them by sound. It was appropriately titled Dreamresources. Yalda, like much of Baghiri's work, is firmly rooted in the modern aesthetic of the reinterpretation of old. Baghiri manipulates the middle-eastern drumming to fit his own schema of experimentation. The record jumps from ambient-laced found sounds (all recorded live in the desert with Baghir's DAT) to throbbing tribal beats without warning, which keeps the record from becoming simple background noise. The album opens with the stunning "Daygan." The sound of crickets (which pervades the entire record) and other live recorded ambiance from the eastern desert is slowly overtaken by the pounding tribal drums. A barking animal enters the mix, barely audible beneath the layers of syncopated drums. Howling voices dot the landscape and the drums increase in intensity. You can picture the barren landscape with the full moon dripping light overhead. The drums slowly fade away and then stop altogether, with only a silent ambiance leading into the second song. With no clear lines drawn between each song, and with the record pushing past the hour long mark, it can get draining around the forty-five minute mark, but the last two tracks ("Hidden Psalm" and "Languages of Animals") are a sweet reward to the listener for making it through that far. The list of instruments used in the recording is astonishing in length. They range from didjeridus, rainsticks and "other forgotten objects," to Tibetan gongs, panjab clay flutes, bendirs and other esoteric eastern instruments. At the bottom of the list are the electronics used: fm and analogue synths, and processors and subliminal nature sound programming. The dichotomy seems strange, but the end result is stunning in its near prefect amalgamation. The electronics used are subtle enough that the prosaic listener may not notice them altogether, and the ambiance is underwhelming enough as to not lose the listener. The record was released by the Polish label, Vivo, which is appropriate because the label also recently released the new posthumous record by fellow purveyor of eastern rhythm, Muslimgauze. But where Muslimgauze uses his music as an output for political purposes, Baghiri seems less interested in the social and political aspects of the region, but more on the history and landscape, which is evident in the beautiful digipac design and artwork. Yalda is the best introduction to Baghiri's work, seamlessly combining the best elements of his wide-ranging genre hopping, all the while holding the attention of the listener with a wide array of sounds and tribal beats that those afraid of straight ambiance will wholeheartedly embrace. It is a record that successfully accomplishes the moods of darkness, rebirth, and beautiful isolation that Baghiri seems to have been aiming for. It is eastern ambient electronica at its best. Gentry Boeckel / Stylus After an uncharacteristically long wait, we're presented with the latest work from this Iranian ambient artist. When this latest album arrived I wondered I would be presented with, more stratospheric synths, a world of dreams or a dynamic range of hard-edged instrumental experimentation. What we're presented with goes back closer to home for Amir with sounds of the ethnic middle-eastern desert. With tracks ranging from five to ten minutes in length, they blend excellently one with the other, so you really are not aware of when one magical soundscape ends and the other begins. "daygan" begins this journey with slowly building percussion that builds and builds and includes incredible beats that would put many drum circles to shame. And on it continues through various tracks picking up and dropping off, including sounds of the desert, nature, the rare commodity of the relaxing sound of running water and so on through the ambient textures of "simourgh" and "languages of animals". The inclusion of a plethora of instruments such as egyptian dumbak, liquid drums, bendirs, azerbaijan, frame drum, surdo, tamborin, tibetan gongs, panjab clay flute, stone flute, synthesizers and many others are a true dynamic to this album. Many friends also contribute their talents making this the ultimate jam session CD. It's relaxing in many ways, and monotonous enough to bring that trancy ambient feeling to life, yet not too much as to make you grow tired of listening. But you do have to appreciate this type of ambient music and soundscapes. I think this is another great step and album for Amir Baghiri bringing us yet another surreal world that we could only capture through music. copyright 2004 -Jacob Bogedahl / Gothic Paradise Amir Baghiri has been composing music since his university days in the early '80s. More recently he is based in Germany where he produces solo, collaborative and commercial work in his Bluebox studio. Previous discs have been contained within the borders of his native Iran or been released by Spanish and Italian labels but Yalda is his debut for Poland's Vivo. From the title, a winter solstice celebration meaning "birth," to the arid landscape imagery of the ecopack's artwork, to the dedication to 9th-10th Century Iranian physician-cum-renaissance man Zakariya Razi, to the nearly ridiculous list of ethnic instruments used, Yalda is steeped in ancient Persian culture. Baghiri conjures an immersive sound world melding percussion and programming with true Asian and North African ambience collected in person on DAT. The opening tracks immediately set the scene: trance inducing poly-rhythmic drumming, a backdrop of simmering electronics and atmospheres, an enigmatic animal howl, etc. Sand is practically spilling out of the speakers. Then the rhythm dies down and the dark ambient drifts, drones and dripping water become the foreground. And so it goes for 68 minutes, fluctuating through these aggressive and sublime moments. In some tracks, such as "Ice, Fire and Bone" and "Hidden Psalm," the percussion is content to gently percolate while in others, such as "Cross-Dressing," it rolls in like an invading army and reaches a fever pitch. I can't offer much of an informed opinion on the authenticity of it all, but to these Western ears it's all wonderful: somewhere between Steve Roach and Muslimgauze. Recommended to fans of both and the like. Brainwashed / Mark Weddle A selection of 10 impeccable tribal/ambient/textural tracks here from this prolific Iranian artist. 'Yalda' charts a course for the faraway lands as Baghiri uses DAT source material from his visits to Asia and North Africa. Incorporating these field recordings into 'Yalda' lends the atmospheres a natural, earthy vibe--very successful indeed. Fans of the somber, moody soundscapes of Robert Rich, Vidna Obmana, Steve Roach, or even Bill Laswell would do well to seek out this marvelous release. Godsend / Todd Zachritz Wie man sich vorstellen kann eine CD die voller arabischer Instrumente steckt und damit nahezu sicher stellenweise sehr percussiv ist, auf der anderen Seite aber auch ebenso dicht und ambient digital. Beats aus Wasserplätschern, die dennoch nicht blöd sind, stehende Sounds die nach Wüste klingen, Hitze, Ruhe die ständig umgewälzt wird von den großen Gesten der Natur. Wie es sein kann, dass so eine Platte auf einem polnischen Label erscheint, ist schon an sich ein kleines Wunder. Wer sich gelegentlich etwas fiebrig fühlt, Musik wie eine Masse aus heißem Wind liebt, sollte sich diese CD anhören. bleed .... De:Bug Barking beasts are the beats along with some fine tribal drumming on 'Daygan', the opening track of 'Yalda'. Once again Amir Baghiri has chronicled a lush wilderness, a place where fear and warmth coexist. Field recordings from Asia and North Africa include lively howls, morning rain and sounds of industry. The title track makes eerie references to lost tribes, the ghosts of forgone civilizations. The sound is cinemascope-wide following curvaceous dunes with an open air atmosphere. The recording has a pristine production that focuses on the elements, especially water in many forms. 'Illanout' is the morning after a sobbing storm, that picks up with lively African rhythms and ample beats. There is a natural sound here, it is less an electronic record - more of an emergence for Baghiri where field recordings and nodes/wires meet and meld. This makes a fine case for what 'world music' should be. 'Cross-Dressing' starts silently and builds furiously into a snake-charmed whirl of dust and rattle. The percussion is truly evocative of some supreme tonal language that is a complete body hypnotism, and then it suddenly falls silent and changes the pace. Over and over Baghiri plays this mystical dance with our ears, tracks with beginnings, climaxes and sudden or slow endings as heard again on 'Azar'. None of the tracks here copycat each other though his formula is repetitive, albeit an alluring one, in a way that keeps you wanting more. (TJN) Vital Weekly Amir Baghiri is an Iranian multi-instrumentalist who plays an amazing variety of ethnic instruments. Recorded in Asia and North Africa, I began to wonder why this World Music offering was being marketed as "desert ambience". Europeans may rate it as ambient music, but, I thought, North Africans probably just regard it as music. OK, I've been had... A search of the Web reveals that Amir Baghiri is a prolific and successful "electro-tribal sound designer" based in Germany. So what we have here is a musician/composer/programmer with one foot in organic, acoustic music, and the other in hi-tech manipulation. Baghiri knows what he's doing and the result - undoubtedly more than the sum of the parts - is a sort of hyper-real version of World Music, finer and more mysterious and more everything than the real thing. Given my limited experience of this area, I'm tempted to compare this with Muslimgauze, but without the political agenda. The music here is fundamentally and overwhelmingly percussive, with mostly just the feint suggestion of other sounds, and even where a melodic instrument puts in an appearance, the melody is little more than a riff and its role is completely secondary. The sound draws its interest from its rhythmical complexity and the varying timbres which different 'substances' produce. Drumming at festivals, in parks and by buskers has become a popular activity, so Europeans are much more open to purely percussive music than the charts might suggest. This is ethno-ambient rather than dark-ambient, but at least it's not New Age mush-ambient. RIK - 29 August 2003 FluxEuropa Amir Baghiri is a 40-year-old Iranian who has been living in Germany during more recent years. He has been prolifically recording since the '80s, with numerous releases on the Italian Amplexus imprint (including several CD box sets), soundtrack work and a number of probably impossible-to-find vinyl and cassette releases from his home country behind him. How Yalda compares to this expansive body of work I honestly don't know, since this is the first time I've heard anything by Baghiri, but what's interesting is the way he and his few (mostly) Persian collaborators successfully blend peregrinatory washes of pulped computer processes and field recordings with a vast armoury of traditional instruments several worlds away from those many Western peers attempting to evoke a 'similar' atmosphere purely via their sample collections. There's an extremely rich and natural flow to the proceedings suggesting nothing less than live instruments at work, and it's precisely here that the vast difference is compounded. Although almost everything is played by Baghiri himself, the bottom line is that the combination of shakers, gongs, frame drums, bendirs, rababa, chimes, zarb, stone flute and so on actually exist beyond the clutches of the virtual environment. Held down by some fantastic and often labyrinthine hypnotic rhythms, other snatches of less discernible sound drift steadily through a haze of electronics and background chants. It does little to betray the expansive images of the desert, and its many mysteries, both suggested immediately and indeed depicted on the sleeve (where, in keeping with the spirit of the music, photographs are digitally tampered with slightly). In keeping with so much music of this kind, there's a filmic afterglow that, again, in lesser hands would only sound clumsy or benign. Baghiri's own grasp, however, never strays from a purer form of craft, simultaneously singular and porous while encapsulating the beauty, menace and ever-changing temperament of the very same lands that have inspired him. In a nutshell, it's a widescreen grasp primed perfectly for widescreen minds. Who can ask for much more than that? (RJ) Adverse Effect (UK) Amir Baghiri has stepped away from his keyboards and embarked on a field trip across the sands of the Middle East. Utilizing more regional and ethnic instruments than I knew even existed, he builds a record which, while still ambient in construction, overflows with the sound of wind and drums. There's a certain Muslimgauze-like flavor to Yalda (only because rhythmic trance influenced by the Middle East was so completely the core of Bryn Jones' sound), but Baghiri polishes the music with his own sensibilities and impressions. While "Yalda" is filled with persistent drums, there is also a heavy wind which blows through this track, carrying it with a lone voice and a variety of other wind-driven instruments. It is like a Muslimgauze beat over a vidnaObmana or Robert Rich atmosphere -- a thick, heady arrangement of textured space which both floats and sizzles. There are aspects of the early Muslimgauze sound throughout the entirety of Yalda, sounds and textures reminiscent of both Azzazzin and the Gun Aramaic discs, but these elements are only points of comparison if you know them; Baghiri's use of these textures and sonic atmospheres are his own coloration, his own emphasis on ambience. "Illanout" begins with the rare rain which dots the Sahara, a momentary respite from the heat, and, as the rain passes, the sun heats the sand again, raising heat waves which shimmer and dance across the dunes. Baghiri captures it all and the illusory veils of sound are left hanging in space, draped across the sky. The ambience of the desert at night is the backdrop for "Ice, Fire, and Bone" as a solitary drummer sits at the edge of the firelight and composes a finger-burning duet with the night insects. "Simourgh" is spooky in its ambience, as if you have stumbled upon an old river track from the centuries before the sands, and this track takes you underground where there is still water dripping from ancient stones. While my familiarity with Baghiri's work extends to his more ambient material, Yalda is a fresh take on the exotic, rhythmic instrumentation of the Middle East. Baghiri takes these instruments -- the dumbak, the bendir, Azerbaijan frame drum, the surdo, the djembe, the Persian zarb, the rababa, the oud and the didjeridoo, the Panjab clay flute, the Iranian ney and sipsi -- as well as Tibetan gongs, rainsticks, chimes, a stone flute, the tamborin, liquid drums, and even some "subliminal nature sound programming" and creates an ethnically rich ambient soundtrack. There is no political agenda and no abrasive editing and distortion of sound to Yalda. It is just a sensuous and textured ambient landscape of a region wealthy with its distinct musical heritage. Recommended. -Mark Teppo / Earpollution Amir Baghiri's "Yalda" is an exceptional example of world music matched with a modern approach to electronica and a persistent feel of experimentation that pervades this whole release. Mostly a percussive record, Amir Bahiri's rhythmical grooves never miss a chance to team with the beautiful environmental audio and the warm analog sonics and many times the percussions actually go in the background and let the warping pads and the sounds of nature lead the way through this fantastic journey. Recorded live, in a studio and on site (field recordings) in different places including Asia and North Africa, you'll get much of those two continents: from traditional instruments and traditional vibes to middle eastern percussive grooves that will remind of Muslimgauze's tireless drumming and programming or Gregorio Bardini's attentive experimentation and exploration. Egpytian dumbak, liquid drums, surdo, djembes, tamborin, Persian zarb, didjeridus, panjab clay flute, native iranian ney and sipsi, stone flute, tibetan gongs are just a few of the forgotten instruments that Baghiri will gladly bring back to our memories with enchanting and rapturing atmospheres of distant places and unknown cultures. An important testament of the peoples and the cultures of this planet. Simply beautiful and globally exceptional. Review by: Marc "the MEMORY Man" Urselli-Schärer chain dlk

A sterling piece of work from Germany based Iranian Amir Baghiri, a proliftic Ambient composer. For this release on Polish label Vivo, Baghiri plays a shopful of Middle Eastern instruments: oud and saz lutes, flutes and the Turkish sipsi reed pipe. But it's in the drums that his heart lies, and a panoply of percussion from Egypt to Azerbaijan is pressed into service to create dense, danceworthy workouds. Like a warmer version of the late Muslimgauze, Baghiri layers and manipulates textures, drones and fragments of voice in his dark-hued, mesmerising tracks. Often it's like listening to the crackle of a beach bonfire laid over drumming. Baghiri's trump card is his deployment of field recordings to thicken the mix, especially a heady desert wind that seems to blow straight out of a Paul Bowles novel set in Morocco. The whole of "Emamzadeh Hashem" is a soup of wind, street noise and distant music, while on "Eshragh" a pondful of frogs get involved with the beats. Baghiri's musical vision is impressive, and by dedicating the album to Ali Asghar Bahari, an early 20th century master of the bowed kemancheh, he unexpectedly underlines his music's place in the Iranian tradition. Clive Bell / The Wire [252]http://thewire.co.uk/ Amir Baghiri is an Iranian artist who explores the boundries between world music, electronic music and field recordings in a matter that results very similar to the style of Muslimgauze. After his 2003 "Yalda", Vivo puts out his new album, which turn out to be very percussion-focused overall. Some instruments used are: khaliji drums, persian tumbak, egyptian dumbak, liquid drums, bendirs, azerbaijan frame drum, surdo, mahogany pro djembes, tamborin and persian zarb & dohol drums. rababa, ouds, saz, kamancheh, panjab clay flute, native iranian ney and sipsi stone flute and various chimes, shakers, rainstick and some other forgotten objects. To that you'll have to add additive fm and analog synthesizers, processors & subliminal nature sound programming, groove programming & multidimensional ambient creations. The use of electronics in this album is remarkable becase it is mixed in subtly and yet makes for a fundamental element of the mixture. The balance between the percussive grooves and the digital rhythmical structures is so skillfully achieved that sometimes it's actually hard to tell whether or not it is in and in what percentage. The field recordings come from near eastern desert ambience and nature atmos, all recorded by amir baghiri on a sony DAT recorder in different places around asia & north africa. More technical info (such as software, hardware etc) can be found in the beautifully packaged trifold digipack. Vocals are to be found as well, but mostly as added ear candies or quasi-sampled recursive patterns, rather than lead parts. The middle eastern flavours are strong and intense in this record, you can almost smell it. Overall its grooves are pretty uptempo, which makes it easy to listen to and enjoyable. Finally the album features some guests, including: Reza Ardalani (addtional zarb and ney), Malek Halime (distant azan, nohe khani and spoken words) and zhale mikhaili (tar, setar, additional spoken vocals as sample foods). www.chaindlk.com Le rapprochement entre les musiques traditionnelles et électroniques n'a pas toujours donné de bons résultats. Lorsque cet assemblage se veut exigeant, il est encore moins évident. On connaît le rare génie de Muslimgauze, aujourd'hui les labels souterrains tentent de raviver la flamme. Amir Baghiri peut se voir comme un héritier de Bryn Jones (Muslimgauze) époque Zul'm, mais aussi dans sa gestion de la répétition, meme si son travail est plus . Les roulements percussifs sont bien présents, mais les voix et les instruments a vent aériens leur disputent plus souvent les premiers rôles. La production est plus propre. Plus construite donc plus prévisible, la musique de Baghiri est aussi plus émotive. Mais elle sait se faire sombre aussi. Ce qui surprend sur ce disque captivant, c'est l'énergie qui soutient chaque morceau, peut-etre due au fait que Baghiri joue de tant d'instruments. A la croisée d'une musique filmique et d'une electronica colorée, la musique d'Amir Baghiri est un véritable voyage immobile. Octopus I've been listening to a lot of field recordings from the Middle East recently (a number of the releases on Sublime Frequencies) and have been getting lost in the way music is so readily accessible from the street in these regions. Amir Baghiri's Ghazal opens in the same way: by submerging you in a street somewhere in the Middle East. Voices float in the background, nearly drowned out by the music and the singer's voice. "Nasime Saba" is a pop song of the street, replete with hand drums, finger cymbals, flute and the undulating siren song of a itinerant musician. You are submerged in a culture thick with a constant flood of music from hidden speakers, street musicians, distant prayer calls, and the rhythmic patter of the language. The trick with Ghazal is that everything is composed, recorded, played and mixed by Baghiri himself. Baghiri is recreating the vibrant energy of the Middle East in the studio, mixing the spontaneous rhythms of the marketplace and the city streets with carefully edited loops and field recordings. An ocean wave draws us in to "Shure Baran," a liquid wash of sound that transports us to a seaside community where a five piece percussion ensemble is banging out a rhythmic piece. It almost feels live until studio effects warp the sound, altering the rhythm and distorting the clarity of the drums. It is a Muslimgauze-like effect (a comparison which you really can't avoid when talking about Middle Eastern rhythms being distorted by authorial manipulation), but with more subtlety and less abrasiveness. The subtle field recordings wash across track divisions, lending a cohesive flow to the music as if we were sampling the ethnic music styles of the region. The ocean tide of "Shure Baran" gives way to a field of buzzing and chirping insects in "Daryaie Golfeshan," a lengthy piece that gradually winds up to a tumultuous explosion of sound before fading again into the distant burr of insect noise. "Eshragh" returns us to the street corner again and Baghiri works in cut-up loops and a persistent background crackle of insect life and whispering noise. "Sukhte Balha" builds as a duet between a water faucet and a field recording of street vendors and sing-song conversations. And everywhere there are drums: Khaliji drums, the Persian tumbak, the Egyptian dumbak, liquid drums, bendirs, the Azerbaijan frame drum, surdo, djembes, tamborin, the Persian zarb and Dohol drums. Ghazal is a sea of drums, beats, rhythms and percussive threads which run run run throughout the tracks. Baghiri's fingers and hands are never still on Ghazal. The more I listen to Ghazal, the more I get lost in the vibrant texture and hypnotic complexity of Baghiri's compositions. Highly recommended. Mark Teppo / www.igloomag.com This new CD by Amir Baghiri, called 'Ghazal', came to me as quite a surprise. I expected to hear more of the ethnic ambient that I associated with Baghiri (like the amplexus stuff). On this CD, however, Baghiri presents some very rhythmic and danceable tracks. The tracks sound like some sort of 'pop' music from Iran, Irak, or perhaps Syria. Uptempo drum rhythms and Iranian singing form a moody and exciting atmosphere that can perhaps best be compared to the danceable releases by Muslimgauze. 'Ghazal' certainly has the same kind of 'in your face' attitude that the Muslimgauze works are so well known for. But, admittedly, the tracks are also less industrial, and far more energetic. While real 'pop' music from the middle east tends to be way too poppy (and often downright annoying), Baghiri manages to fuse 'pop' and 'classical' elements into a perfect mix. Surprises can be very nice, and I have to say that I'm quite stunned by this album. The overall quality and atmosphere are very impressive and the beats are simply very addictive. This album reminded me of trips in North Africa and the Middle East, and is certainly one of the best soundtracks for desert travellers.