

Celestial Dances
4 Tracks49 MIN2005
℗ Le Chant du Monde — Harmonia Mundi
Ostad Elahi’s boundless creativity and ever renewed inspiration in the art of tanbur are expressed through improvisations on the Bābā Faqīhī and Tchapī Suites, inviting the listener to join in the celestial dance toward the source of creation.
Samā Suite
This recording dates back to the early 50s and is one of the most ancient recordings of Ostad’s music. Slow and meditative at first, almost an incantation, the suite gradually becomes more animated. Ostad plays on three registers simultaneously (low, medium, and sharp) and superimposes “layers” of overlapping melodies, with persistent sounds that create a universe of harmonies utterly foreign to any established rules. The radical and unpredictable changes of rhythm do not, however, alter the cohesion of the piece. This musical language is both quite puzzling and strangely familiar. It seems that one is always hearing it for the first time, recognizing elements of a structure that is undoubtedly solid and fully mastered, but nevertheless difficult to completely grasp and comprehend.
Tracklist
Samā Suite
Celestial Dances
Samā Suite
Celestial Dances