Hâl. Ballades amoureuses Maryam Chemirani, Sylvain Barou, Bijan Chemirani, Keyvan Chemirani

• 1 Bâman Sanamâ 05:09
• 2 Lord Baker 04:57
• 3 Seven Fishes 06:05
• 4 An Indian Way 11:14
• 5 138 06:13
• 6 Miraqsan 03:33
• 7 Berceuse pour Maël 03:26
• 8 Irish Suite 03:20
• 9 The Limerick Rake 03:26
• Total Runtime 47:23

Info for Hâl. Ballades amoureuses

The talented Chemirani family - Keyvan, Bijan and Maryam - have recorded an album called Hâl (pronounced ‘Hol’), which explores the intersection of Iranian, Indian and Irish music. Subtitled ‘Love ballads’, it features love poems with texts sung in English or Persian. The ‘hâl’ corresponds to the moment when one lets oneself go, that ecstatic state between awakening and self-forgetfulness… Keyvan, a zarb and percussion virtuoso, and Bijan, an expert on the saz lute and also a percussionist, are known from the highly regarded Trio Chemirani, formed with their father. This album introduces their sister Maryam, a singer but also a nurse, who followed in the footsteps of Mother Teresa in India, then worked in the Alpes de Haute Provence. Keyvan devised this programme especially for her, inspired both by her voice which is ‘warm and deeply generous’ and her compassionate spirit which imbues her performance with added emotion. The incredible flute player Sylvain Barou, their brother in music, completes the ensemble.

Maryam Chemirani, vocals
Sylvain Barou, flute, bansuri, duduk, zurna, uikkeann-pipes, neyanban
Bijan Chemirani, zarb, saz
Keyvan Chemirani, zarb, drum kit, daf, santur, konokol
Sokratis Sinopoulos, lyra

Maryam Chemirani & Bijan Chemirani
Formed on the initiative of Iranian percussionist Bijan Chemirani, Oneira is a dream (the meaning of “oneira”), a dream enriched by the experiences and emotions of each of its members, the result of their respective backgrounds, travels, traditions… The group is composed of hurdy-gurdy player Pierlo Bertolino (Dupain, Ahamada Smis), guitarist Kevin Sedikki (Dino Saluzzi, Al Di Meola), Harris Lambrakis (Savinata Yanatou), who plays the ney (end-blown flute), and the two singers, Maria Simoglou (Stelios Petrakis, Sokratis Malamas), who hails from Thessaloniki, and Maryam Chemirani (Trio Deilizioso Compagnie Zelwer), Bijan’s sister. A close-knit, yet very open group, Oneira welcome here some delightful guests: guitarist Pierrick Hardy, lyra player Stratis Psaradellis, the Sardinian singer Gavino Murcia, and that wizard with words from Gascony, André Minvielle. Together these artists turn their individual dreams into scintillating pieces of music.

Four of the pieces are re-creations of tradition: Apòpse ta mesànyhta, which comes from Thrace, To fileman (aki so peran) from the Black Sea, Hassan Chabi, belonging to the Alevi community of Turkey, and Sorcière, from Finland. Leis Auras is a setting of a text by the Occitan poet Roland Pecoud; in La Bourdique, to words by André Minvielle, Oneira present their own version of Richard Hertel’s setting. Ferdows Dami and Mou’pe mia magissa are composed to verses (sung in Persian and Greek) by the eleventh-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, while Sanama is a lively setting of lines by the thirteenth-century Persian poet and mystic Rumi (popularly known as Mevlana). Sometimes, as in Sorcière or Râh, the language is very original, and sometimes the music speaks for itself, as in the two interludes, Ambianz and Ambianz II, in which electric or electro phantoms express their secrets.

This album contains no booklet.