>>PREVIEW
CALGARY FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Niyaz
July 27 to 30
Prince’s Island Park
Priding itself on the marvellous array of cutting edge artists featured in its annual lineups, the Calgary Folk Festival has continually extended its folk-roots boundaries to include exotic and often genre-defying acts from every corner of the musical world.
One such acts tepping into the festival’s spotlight this year is the globe-spanning collective known as Niyaz (which means "yearning" or "longing" in the Farsi language). A modern musical hybrid born of Persian poetry and electronica, Niyaz’s globe-spanning sound represents a fusion of cultures and musical styles that has allowed them to transcend the everyday and dwell in the realms of the extraordinary.
"As Iranians living outside of Iran, we have been very fortunate to be able to bring something ancient to the festivals we participate in," says Niyaz’s lead singer Azam Ali.
Regardless of the type of festival they are performing at, the audiences have been enthusiastic about the kind of music they play. In order to recreate their music in a live setting, they have added a tabla player and an oud player.
"The live versions of our songs are very extended and improvisational compared to the recordings. It keeps things fresh and interesting and so far we’re really enjoying ourselves."
Together with fellow Iranian Loga Ramin Torkian (also a member of Axiom of Choice), singer Ali, formerly of the bestselling duo Vas, joined forces with two-time Grammy nominee, producer and remixer Carmen Rizzo, known for his work with Seal, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ekova, Cirque du Soleil and Khaled. Placing Ali’s captivating vocals at the centre of their organic musical arrangements, the trio weaves a rich tapestry of sound and emotion, passion and tradition.
Drawing on the poetry of the 13th century Sufi poet Jalauddin Rumi, Ali, who was born in Iran but largely raised in India, sings in both Urdu (a language widely spoken in both India and Pakistan) and Farsi (the Persian language), transfixing her listeners with dulcet tones and velvety harmonies that tantalize the senses even as they hypnotize the mind.
Loga, an accomplished guitarist, fleshes out Ali’s ethereal vocals with filigreed solos on the Turkish saz, Persian lute and electric guitarvol (a 14th century European bowed guitar), as well as other traditional Kurdish and Turkish instruments. It is then Rizzo’s job to add another layer that mingles new electronica with the pair’s traditional acoustic tonalities, while preserving the original essence of their centuries-old sound.
"We want to expose as many young people as possible to our music.The fact that our materials are not available for sale in Iran is unfortunate and always a sore subject for us," Ali says with palpable regret. "As an artist I have a sense of responsibility to give back to my culture and my community and as an Iranian living in North America that has been rather difficult.
Many of my peers have the same problem, we have only experienced our cultural identity as presented to us by our parent’s generation and at the same time we don’t relate to the current Iranian pop culture. That is why I wanted to create something with a real spiritual context. The poetry of Persia is our most beautiful legacy and I wanted to share it with the younger population."
Creating accessible music that appeals to both Western listeners and those from the communities whose native music has influenced their work is of the utmost importance to Niyaz. Working together to transcend borders and break new ground with what they describe as "world music for the 21st century," Niyaz demonstrate reverence for the past even as they carry it forward into an uncertain future.
"We owe everything involved with this tour to the Canadian Council for the Arts and the grants they have awarded us. It is a testament to the greatness of this country that artists like us who can’t perform in their homelands can join the world musicians who have become successful outside of their own countries and then become known at home.
As part of that community we must depend on other cultures for our survival. Living in America has had a large impact on what we do and it is inevitable that politics finds its way into our art. Even now, everyone’s life, religious or political, is being touched by outside events and becoming more fanatic. We want to take things in a direction that preserves the element of mysticism, to do something right for the world, to express the depth and substance of our being." |
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