Azam Ali - From Night To the Edge of Day review

Azam's voice sneaks up on one already from the first couple of seconds after one presses the Play button. It's something that one definitely ends up stick with and won't let go of that easily.

It brings me back to the night when I heard Azam at a concert. I can't remember the last time I was eager to see someone live as much as then. It was a rainy Monday and Azam, as lead vocal in the project called Niyaz, performed in front of a packed concert hall. In the third row there was me, my eyes carefully scanning the stage, examining all the instrument and observing the players' facial expressions as they lulled us into the sounds of the East.

I remember that Azam's voice sounded exactly as on the albums and how glad I was that the entire approach to music was so natural. Not to prolong my personal experience, right after the last song on that breath-taking concert was over, a small, perky and curly thing came out from the backstage, cuddling against Azam's dress as if it were a silk curtain. It was her son Iman, too shy to say hi to the whole crowd, but showing all of us the special bond between the two of them.

After singing in countries all around the globe, Azam has found herself in front of the most demanding audience – her son. But if thoughts like hers, presented on this album, were whispered to babies all around the world, it would surely be a much nicer place for everyone, giving us and especially the young ones a better future.

Azam often talks about her heritage and points out that it hasn't always been easy keeping up with it, especially in a society that functions on a global scale. That seems to have become an even more demanding task once her son was born, forcing her to try to find and determine equilibrium between family and heritage ― between diaspora and the modern world.

Depicting the situation as the exile of love, in her new album From Night to the Edge of Day, Azam brings us closer to her heart and her desires, drawing us into the cozy and dreamy world of lullabies. Taking them from the Iranian, Kurdish, Turkish and Lebanese tradition and embroidering them with her soft, motherly voice, she shows and instructs us on how to express love to those little wonders that come into our world.

Far away from their homeland and their family, but still holding the tradition close to them, Azam and many of her musical colleagues try to bridge the two seemingly incompatible worlds ― the traditional and the modern one. Azam herself was born in Iran and raised in India, later on moving to the US and spreading her musical influence over the Pond as well and recently settling partially in Canada and partially in Turkey.

Azam's other and numerous projects can't pass unnoticed either: Niyaz, which I mentioned earlier, is a project in collaboration with Azam's husband Ramin Loga Torkian (who is working on a project with the incredible vocalist Khosro Ansari) and Carmen Rizzo; the projects Vas and Axiom of Choice; the soundtrack for the movie '300', collaborations with Mercan Dede, Zakir Hussain, System of a Down, The Crystal Method and Greg Ellis of Juno Reactor; three solo albums...

Maybe it's exactly in this domain ― in the sleepy world of lullabies ― that we can all connect. The soothing humming sounds and the emotional complexity behind them can remind us of what it's all about. The new life, the love, the caring... Maybe in that way we can forget our differences, put our interethnic issues aside and enjoy life ― simple as it is.

Being brought up in such different societies, we start developing our opinions through personal experience. Maybe we would all be more understandable if we started off a bit earlier, so why not lull your precious ones to sleep in a different language, accompanied by a non-familiar rhythm and exotic instruments...

Children (and adults) who live their lives in exile, in conflict or sorrow have to keep their hopes up ― for themselves, for others and for the future. Azam herself believes that singing lullabies is as important for comforting adults who sing them as it is for soothing the children they are sung to. Spreading that idea around, a lot of Azam's friends helped her get a hold of some traditional material from around the East. The famous Palestinian singer and oud player Naser Musa even wrote the song and joined Azam singing in Faith.

If you're an aficionado of the East as I am, you'll surely enjoy the ambience all the percussion, strings and half tones entwine. The traditional songs of the Iraqi Kurds (Lai Lai is sung in the Sorani dialect) and Iranian Azeris (Shirin) along with tracks in Farsi dialects (Mehman is sung in the dialect of Sirjan in Iran) give the whole story a new touch. The idea of a shared history, heritage and culture; the hope of peace restored and social conflicts resolved; our timeless bonds shared and smiles on children's faces seen again and again...

It seems to happen often that one gets reminded of the fact that we live our lives too fast, but how often does one actually stop and ponder upon it. This is the perfect opportunity to kick back, switch your mobile off and get pulled into the simple and pleasant world of music. What could be better than a caravan of lovely lullabies to put you to sleep after a long, tiring day?

Grant yourself an hour off. And then many more...