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CD Review
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Knoxville News Sentinel, CD Review >>
So much goes wrong so often when traditional world music is melded with current Western styles, it's a wonder anyone bothers to do it. The results are frequently awkward - contemporary with a cornball twist or classic with a gimmicky "update."
Yet Tehran native Pouya Mahmoodi achieves rare balance on his new "Mehr" as he merges traditional Iranian folk (specifically a melancholic type known as zaar) with jazz, blues and rock. He achieves an elegant sound that is Western-friendly but doesn't seem to be an obvious sellout of his native culture.
Mahmoodi excels on several fronts - as an innovative composer of textured music with complicated time signatures, as a deft guitarist with a mesmerizing mastery of the instrument in both acoustic and electric formats, and as a singer who conveys searing soul even if his language is incomprehensible to the listener.
His brooding vocals express the words of 13th century Persian poet Rumi on opening cut "Si Pareh," yet the string-and-keyboard foundation plus a guest appearance by jazz fusion drummer Billy Cobham establish a vividly modern context.
As the fluid release rolls on, the vibe is generally mellow: "Dingomaro" and "Noban" are meditative dreamscapes, Mahmoodi saunters through a breezy "Sare Koohe Boland" with pretty inflections and brushed rhythm suitable for an upscale cocktail lounge, and the performer achieves a regal, though wholly accessible, finale in "Tan E Bisheh."
Still, Mahmoodi finds ways to escalate the tension - sending "Niayesh" into an up-tempo bent, emotionally arcing his vocals on the weirdly Gothic "Bamdad" and hitching into swampy blues electricity on "Me Va To" - to complement the complexity of his engaging sound.
All in all, Mahmoodi is a music geek with a respect for the art form and the talent to advance it.
Rating: ****
By CHUCK CAMPBELL 02/22/08 >> go there
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