

The Paths of Divine Love
5 Tracks1 HR4 MIN1997 Reissued 2004
℗ Le Chant du Monde — Harmonia Mundi
The quest for divine love is omnipresent in Persian mystical poetry and is manifest in all of the pieces presented in this recording. The passionate love the soul experiences as it becomes conscious of the distance separating it from its Beloved, along with the pain caused by this separation, is clearly depicted in the Tarz and Shāh Hoseynī suites. It is a love that guides the soul step by step along the path of perfection in the progression suggested by the Haft Khān-e Rostam suite. Upon arriving at the destination, this love is perpetually renewed and drives the seeker through all the levels of ecstasy in a state of absolute freedom of expression and creativity, a state evoked in the Hal Parka suite. As Ostad states, “Let us seek a love that is eternal, a spring that knowns no autumn, a flower that never fades. God alone is at once Love and the Beloved.”
Farangī
Farangī (“Frank” or “European”) here means foreign. One speaks of Farangī tuning (kūk-e farangī) when the tanbur is tuned in seconds instead of the usual fourths, producing an unusual aura and an ethereal atmosphere. Consequently, this tune suggests intriguing, strange, and marvelous things from the spiritual world.
Rarely found among oriental lutes belonging to the same family as the tanbur, this tuning was introduced to the tanbur by Ostad. With the help of the thumb playing the low string, it made possible numerous modal refinements. Integrating some patterns of the Jelo Shāhī melody, Ostad returns to the original rhythm and theme, without breaking the overall continuity.
Tracklist
Farangī
The Paths of Divine Love
Farangī
The Paths of Divine Love