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Album Review
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eMusic, Album Review >>
Lullabies are the first sounds of comfort. They soothe and connect mother and child, form bridges between the past and the future and help to keep the formless horrors of the dark at bay. On From Night to the Edge of Day Azam Ali — a lauded singer who's worked with Vas, Niyaz and others — brings together the strands of her own Middle Eastern past with the future — her son, who was born in 2008. There's a gentle, loving beauty in the songs she sings here, with a lush, pillowy depth. Even where there's an underlying sense of foreboding to the words, as on "Dandini" ("May god protect him from all the evil in the world/ May our pots always be coated with tin"), they still radiate the quiet comfort of a mother teaching her child about life to come. Ali draws from several traditions of lullabies, looking to Turkey, Azerbaijan, and especially her native Iran (as well as contemporary and original pieces), plaiting together the threads of the cultures in the joys and sorrows of motherhood.
Just like the lullabies themselves, the music on this album looks backward and forward, mixing traditional Middle Eastern instruments — saz, hand drums, oud, setar and more — with studio crafted drones and electric instruments for texture, then letting Ali's gently emotive voice floating on top. And on a cut like "Neni Desem" her singing truly does float, the rich vocal melody hanging breathlessly above everything, gliding gracefully among the tender ache of the lyrics. It's a contrast to the eternal hope of "Faith," a piece composed especially for Ali's son. There the beauty is still perfectly tangible, but there's a stillness at the heart of the song that radiates out through the music, tranquil and glorious. It shows that these lullabies, complex, heartfelt, and touched with the pain of exile, aren't just for babies, but stand as a reminder of the very human power of song. 04/14/11 >> go there
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