Terra Mediterranea

Release: 21 March 2021

Format: USB, digital downloads

Number of tracks: 10

Length: 48min.

Genre: World fusion, EthnoFlamenco

Regardless of our occupations, when we create a new product, we must think in advance who the product is being made for, and in our case, who our target audience are. It’s doubly true when we play an unconventional or so-called non-mainstream style. It requires a more far-sighted vision of who the listeners are, and how to bring the music to the ears of the maximum possible number of music enthusiasts!

I’ve thought a lot about this subject over the years and this album, is just one of our attempts, an experiment if you like, in our search for the ultimate answer.

While studying some of the early experimental World-fusion works, something caught my eye. All these albums had something in common. Many of these albums were very sophisticated technically, and yet they were easy to listen to and easy to analyze. For example, if they contained elements of jazz and Indian music, those elements were still very apparent, and dominant, and easy to digest. This approach is what, in my opinion, started the massive wave of experimental music during 60s and 70s.

Then, sometime along the way, I noticed it [the musical landscape] started to get more and more complicated, and sometimes, the thinking seemed to be that the more complicated and difficult the terrain, the better. 150 chords were suddenly better than 20. The easy to digest factor was being sacrificed on the altar of greater complexity. I also noticed that this fusion took a diversion which was not to everyone’s taste, fewer people could relate to it and, it remains true, it does not serve the style very well.

We are musicians, we love to challenge ourselves and write complicated pieces and it’s good to push our own boundaries from time to time, to raise the standards and explore new horizons. But in my opinion, this should not come at the cost of being so complicated that a listener can’t understand what has actually been written for them.

I come from Iran with its beautiful, traditional Persian music, and I’m a guitarist studied in the flamenco discipline. But I’m neither a Persian traditional musician, nor a Flamenco purist. Just as my life has been one without borders, so has my journey through the music of World-fusion.

What we have strived for with this album, is to find a more sure-footed balance between technique and listenability, and to test the waters of our music with a new audience.

I have tried to keep the middle-eastern influence of this music as simple as possible, because I believe middle eastern music in general, and Persian music in particular, (like a lot of old music) is based around a single tone, the unison. Adding too many chords and modulations typically ends up with the music sounding more like jazz, and that’s something we’ve tried to avoid. Instead, we’ve played with the dynamic and rhythm changes. Instinctively, those are what everyone understands and in this [modest] attempt, we are hoping to receive as many of your opinions and comments as possible.

Who can say what the next album will bring? In any case, it’s going to be another step on our transcendent musical journey. And listening to this album, you’re already a part of the revolution.

The Story

RainForest

Over time, this song has gradually morphed into one of our band’s signature songs. The funny thing is, this song is being officially released for the first time on an album, even though many of you got to know us already, through this song. We played it live at the Bush Hall in London for a BBC documentary and from that point on, the song went viral. After a while, we decided to play it live too. So, what you find online, prior to this album, is mostly from live performances from concerts and interviews.

Natalia

This song started with an accidental groove. I was on my couch randomly noodling on guitar… just warming up. Out of nowhere, I started to play the F and G# groove which is the main character of this piece. I hadn’t really been thinking of anything in particular until suddenly Natalia burst out of her room and asked, “What’s this song?” – “I don’t know,” I replied, “but if it ever becomes a song, it’ll be yours.” So, here you are. This song is called Natalia.

Let Me Die

I personally like black humour and I like to inject it into the titles of our songs. I‘m often told that we have some of the most optimistic and positive song titles (‘Let me die’, ‘My lost smile’, ‘Nightmare’ and so on). But warped sense of humour aside and despite their titles, they often carry a very positive and even philosophical message. A good example would be the song ‘Let Me Die’. It is in fact, a love song, but not the conventional love song that most people may imagine. It’s about that very calming and mature love, when we are willing to give the most valuable thing we have, our life, to someone or something else (the song doesn’t specify). And not only the giving of our life, but also the sadness of being unable to do it again and again… (if I only had more lives, I‘d die for you, again and again…).

Technically, the song is based on a 7/8 groove which often shifts with the vocal line to 4/4 (or 8/8) by simply adding an eighth to it. This keeps the rhythm steady and sounding the same, even as the time signature changes. So, now you know.

Terra Mediterranea

This title track stays true to what I said about the album, namely that what we’ve tried to achieve with this album is to play with dynamics and rhythms while keeping the harmony simple. It’s a journey from the middle-east through Mediterranea to the Iberian Peninsula… you’ll hear many elements. From Persian, Arabic, Sephardic, Balkan and Flamenco…

This was one of the challenging pieces to write, given the required character while keeping it as simple as possible when it comes to harmony.

Tooti

Every culture has its own mystical and fictional personages in their legends. In Persian mythology, birds often play an important role resembling people and their many characters.

This particular song is called Tooti meaning “parrot” in Persian. The lyrics are by the mighty Persian poet Hafez Shirazi (1316-1390 AD). The parrot in Persian mythology is generally wise and judicious. They even may know your past and future and give you advice. The lyrics are about a person asking the wise parrot to find the answers to their questions.

When Gandhi Flew

There have been many songs and much literature dedicated to the life and legacy of the late Gandhi, and the impact his life and vision has had on our lives. This musical piece however, is different. It’s dedicated to his journey into the afterlife and an attempt to picture that moment, for the listener.

The story starts with an ordinary day, with people chatting and laughing until a sudden gunshot brings everything to a halt and confusion. Then, a heartbeat, upon which the tempo of the whole piece is based. The song starts with a relaxing d-major scale theme which grows bigger to a chorus resembling flying away. Now the earthly pain is over and his soul is flying away in peace. It’s then followed by a middle section in minor scale. This procession-like theme resembles the funeral which gives way to chaos. This part is us, the people…

The piece ends with the final return to the same D-major theme resembling the flight of the soul. A reminder that life goes on and only the good remains. The rhythm of the heartbeat slowly fades away into the infinite.

Cafeteria by Vltava

There are two songs on this album which were either inspired directly by the river Vltava, or by the events which happened on its shores. This is the second one. Why so? You may ask. Because the other one (Fat Man Rhapsody) has its own interesting and rather funny story to it.

On the technical side, “Cafeteria by Vltava” is a tangos which started to ring in my ear while sitting in a cafe by the river Vltava and listening to the water. It’s not by any means, a traditional tango, at times it even leans towards a rumba and back.

NL, NP

When I look back at my life, I sometimes get the feeling that when I was younger I was quite the musical tyrant with myself. I entertained strict ideas of how my music was supposed to sound and even how it was supposed to be arranged, sometimes even ideas that had not developed a concrete form would be discarded, thrown into the garbage for not being all that I had imagined at first. The older I get, the more I feel the freedom of giving my music the ability to fly wherever it likes and to be carried away by it. I feel it has allowed me to discover new horizons I had never seen before. If the song wants to be more Spanish then so be it, or more Persian, rock or even orchestral. Then why not?

Some may call it maturity and others may call it experience. But ultimately, whatever I write, it’ll still be within the boundaries of my technical discipline. Or as I often say, “I have Iran in my blood, Spain in my hands and live in the heart of Europe.” So, I assume I’m never going to be a jazzman.

NL, NP (No love, No passion) is perhaps a good example of this. While the song is practically an acoustic rock number at its core, you’re still hearing the dominant elements of Spanish Phrygian scales alongside the middle-eastern elements, which at times expand even farther, both west and east, in the intro with the conversation between the full drawbar synthesizer and the Indian Sitar.

Fat Man Rhapsody

This is the one I was referring to in track No.7.

I was enjoying coffee at my favourite cafe by the Vltava river when suddenly, I saw a living song in the shape of a very big man walking towards me. It was, I’d say, a magnificent 160 kg piece of human being and he was walking with a tiny, pocket-sized dog on a leash. Believe me, I could have written a symphony at that moment. They absolutely looked as grand as one. I could hear the song the moment I saw the contrast between the two walking together.

Some songs take years to complete and some on the other hand, come to you as a whole. This one was almost ready right there, but I didn’t know how to record it at that cafe so it wouldn’t be lost. So, I grabbed my phone and started singing the guitar melody into it while watching the man move. People were looking at me like, what’s this weird man whispering guitar sounds into his phone doing? It got even more intense when he let his dog off its leash and it suddenly ran off towards another dog. The man started running after his tiny dog, calling its name, “Bella… Bella…” The sudden tempo change you hear in the middle of the piece is him, running after the dog and the tiny dog responding by running even faster, around a circle. Finally, they slowed and continued walking together along the riverside.

That big man and his tiny dog became a musical piece right there. Fat Man Rhapsody was ready.

My Lost Smile

This last track is the only one on this album played entirely on the Triple-Neck Fusetar. The Triple-Neck appears on some of the others as well, but rather in shorter parts. The percussion and backing vocals on this track were recorded in Paris by my amazing friend and musician, a true master in the percussion of south Iran, Habib Meftah Boushehri.

Thank you, for joining us as a fellow traveler on this journey… from the Caspian Sea, through the Mediterranean lands to the Iberian Peninsula.