Modern Iranian spike fiddle for a meditative moment
Jungyup Lee | Amherst, MA USA | 12/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I hear the "wind" from the bowed instrument with four strings. It takes different names and forms (two-four strings) across the vast continent called Asia.
The middle east version of this instrument is believed to be originated from Kurdistan, now divided across Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. It is called "kemanche" or "kemançe" in Kurdish and "kemençe" in Turkish. However, it is more famous as an Iranian and Azeri instrument with a similar name, "kamancheh" (meaning "little bow" in Persian) or kamança (in Azeri). The distinction between a Iranian /Kurdish "kamancheh"/"kemanche" and a Turkish "kemenche" is confusing to non-experts like me especially because I am provided different explanation here and there (it seems that the former is a kind of a long-neck spike fiddle and the latter is a more like a violin without a spike), but one sure thing is that they are related cousins (One very good explanation is provided here with lots of great kamancheh audio samples from Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia).
One of the most well-known (especially to the Western world) four-stringed kamancheh player today is Kayhan Kalhor, who was born in Iran of Kurdish descent but is now based in the US. While kamancheh has been important as the only bowed string instrument in Iranian classical music (as is exemplied by Ali Asghar Bahari's and Ali Akbar Shekarchi's playing), Kayhan's experiments expanded a modern horizon of the instrument. While playing as a member of Masters of Persian Music, he is tapping into a new soundscape by working with Indian sitar player Shujaat Husain Khan for a project called Ghazal and Turkish baglama (saz) player Erdal Erzincan for the latest album, The Wind (2006). Indeed, his international collaboration with various similar-minded musicians not only earned him fame in the world music circle, but made his music more accessible without compromising musical integrity.
The album, The Wind is a great conversational improvisation between two Middle Eastern virtuoso musicians. If Erdal's baglama playing is a flowing water in the Black Sea, Kayhan's kamancheh is a blowing wind over the Iranian desert. Their one hour amazing performance is calm but intense; passionate but peaceful. Without any background of Iranian classical music, it provides a great meditative moment with repeated listening."
Incredible music
C. T. Wolfe | 04/21/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"it's maybe not as amazing as K. Kalhor's earlier solo work but it's a stunning album nevertheless. Intelligent, delicate without being bland or light."