This piece starts with an improvisation on the Sārū Khānī Suite, but in a special tonality due to the tuning of the instrument in fifths instead of the usual fourths, which makes it difficult to perform. This passage is followed by a supplication in the Bābā Jalīlī mode, a favorite of Ostad Elahi. Here, Ostad exceptionally sings the first verses of a poem in Kurdish by Sheykh Amīr.1<blockquote>Hey Dīn, Ali, Ali, yā Ali Delay gonāhkār yā Mowlām, yā Mowlām, yā Mowlām Delay zabūnbakht, Ali Ali Ali Āy cha azal gonāhkār, yā Ali Ar cha rūy azal Mowlā, Mowlām Ali, ay Djānam, ay Dīnem ay, ay Djānam, ay Ali Mowyāī borda-bār, hey Mowlām, hey Mowlām Ali, Ali pey chīsh makaftī, hey Mowlām amān, hey Ali, Ali Ali Dūr tcha qāpī yār, hey Dīnem, Ali Djān, Ali DjānO sinner heart, how weak and destitute Sinner since the dawn of creation If only you had shown more patience at the outset! How you have lacked respect and patience, What have you done to distance yourself from the divine abode?</blockquote>Ali, Mowlām (my Lord), and Djānam (my Beloved) are all different ways of invoking God. The invocation (zekr) that prolongs and completes this prayer was inspired to Ostad in the 1940s. It reminds the soul that everything is in the hands of its Beloved, and that He alone can solve all problems.<blockquote>Ali āmān yā Ali Dakhīlem wa to Ali Moshkelgoshā-ī Ali Hall-e moshkel-ī AliAli, help, O Ali You are my support, Ali You alone can unravel difficulties, Ali You alone can solve difficulties, Ali</blockquote><ol class="number"><li value=1>Sheykh Amīr was an 18th century Kurdish mystic. Following a sudden spiritual awakening, this illiterate shepherd composed numerous poems with deep spiritual meaning and rich symbolic imagery.</li></ol>

Sārū Khānī Suite (Monājāt)

This zekr by Ostad was also composed in the forties and evokes two spiritual personalities, Ali and Soltān, who are considered to be theophanies:<blockquote>Har va aw Soltān, Har va aw Soltān / wa pardey nūran Mowlāmān wey dowr / mowlāmān wey dowr / sāheb zehūran (Haqq) sāheb zehūranSoltān, O Soltān, Behind the veils of Light Lord of this age, Our Lord The Master of Time, The Manifestation of the Time</blockquote>Soltān is also a way of invoking the Divine, as are Haqq (Truth) and Hū (Him).

Har va Aw Soltān

Shāh Khoshīn was a great 11th century mystic who lived in Lorestān. It is reported that he was the first to introduce zekr-e jalī in spiritual assemblies, accompanying it with chants and musical instruments, including the tanbur. The suite that is performed here differs from other versions of Shāh Khoshīnī and is imbued with a majestic and somewhat strange kind of beauty.1 The richness of the sound expresses the sort of fervor that never lets the soul rest, even during the most peaceful segments of the piece, enjoining it to free itself from the grip of materiality.<ol class="number"><li value=1>See CD, Mystical Orison, Le Chant du Monde/Harmonia Mundi, 2000; republished 2004.</li></ol>

Shāh Khoshīnī Suite

This piece was recorded in Ostad Elahi’s home in Tehran on the occasion of a visit by a group of Kurdish devotees from his native region in western Iran. The atmosphere of the gathering was so warm and spiritual that Ostad played the tanbur for a long time, which was quite unusual. This track reproduces part of that session.The piece starts with a brilliant introduction of the Saharī Suite, a melody that used to be played at dawn to awaken dervishes and stir the soul. What makes this introduction remarkable is that it is played with a tuning in seconds instead of the usual fourths, which requires special skill and casts the melody in an unusual light.The first voice that appears is that of a singer (kalāmkhān) who was renowned for the quality of his Saharī interpretation, as well as his faith, fervor, and abnegation. Ostad Elahi pays tribute to his fervor by not only accompanying him on the tanbur, but also by joining him in singing. This duet of master and student is highly emotional and is further intensified when Ostad begins to sing an octave lower, invoking the Divine in various ways (Ali Hū, Mowlām Hū, Haqq Hū, Ali Ali jān, Ali Mowlām Hū, Ali Hū āmān) before carrying the whole gathering along into an improvised dance melody.The poem that is sung was composed by Malak Jān Nematī, Ostad Elahi’s younger sister, who was a poet of great sensitivity and an accomplished musician.1<blockquote>Qorbān zātet bām barq-e balāya Khosh va hāl kasī, khās mobtalāya Khot Haqq, zātet Haqq, maqāmet Haqqa Esmet azama, zātet motlaqaMay I be sacrificed for Your essence, which resembles mighty lightning Blessed are those who are struck by this lightning You are Haqq, Your essence is Haqq, Your rank is Haqq Your name is God’s name in majesty, Your essence is absolute.</blockquote><ol class="number"><li value=1>See Leili Anvar, Malak Jan Nemati (New York: Arpeggio Press, 2012).</li></ol>

Saharī Suite in the Farangī Tune

Following the previous piece, this melody is also played with a tuning in seconds.

Improvisation in the Khān Amīrī Suite

This suite of zekrs was recorded in the intimacy of Ostad’s home, with close family and friends spontaneously taking up the refrains of the melodies in unison. The first zekr dates back to a time before Hādj Nemat, Ostad Elahi’s father.1<blockquote>a) Dūs bejan bejan barza meli Jam-e rāsāna yār na deliO friend, play, play for the great man This is the gathering of the Righteous, the Beloved is among themb) Sāheb tūl-e zar Dāwed Zāmen-e āhū bar DāwedMaster with the golden stick, Dāwūd Protector of the fawn, Dāwūd</blockquote>The golden stick likely symbolizes the mission of spiritual guidance entrusted to Dāwūd, a manifestation of Raphael, the archangel of divine clemency.<blockquote>c) Jam neyān dūsān aw yāna Haqq shama mīrdān parwānaFriends have convened the gathering in this house God is the candle; men (companions) the butterflies</blockquote>This zekr was composed by Hādj Nemat shortly after his spiritual illumination around 1900.<ol class="number"><li value=1>See <a href="https://www.hadjnemat.com">www.hadjnemat.com</a></li></ol>

Suite of Zekrs

This piece unfolds as a kind of dialogue between two spiritual lovers, interpreted first in the Qatār mode.1 Qatār is an important Kurdish mode that includes elements from Persian music, rendered here in a profound, meditative, and essentially non-measured way. The tanbur is played like a setār, the strings plucked with the forefinger of the right hand rather than struck with all fingers, as is usually done. Despite these technical restrictions, Ostad manages to perform an extremely rich piece conveying calm, strength, and dignity. The melodic line depends on a delicate balance, and the fingers striking the sounding board give an impression of great determination.This passage is followed by improvisations in the Saharī mode (see track 4). The dialogue between the lovers continues; they respond to each other like two birds at the break of dawn, “perched” on two octaves at the top and bottom of the tanbur’s neck. They then fly away together, united in the consuming swirl of their love.The dance themes that conclude this piece are an invitation to allow oneself to be carried away by this impulse of pure love and to discover universes as varied as they are unexpected: in the midst of an exhilarating dance, Ostad suddenly changes the tuning of his instrument from fourths to seconds, casting the atmosphere in a new light.<ol class="number"><li value=1>See CD, Cascade, Le Chant du Monde/Harmonia Mundi, 2002; republished 2004.</li></ol>

Qatār followed by Saharī

Awakening

Hādj Nematollāh

Tanbur

Vocal

Fourths (Sheykh Amīrī)

Jam Neyān

Ali Āmān Yā Ali

Āmān Sad Āmān

Dam Dam-e Isā Ruhollāh Nāman

Donīa fānīyan

Dowre Yārāna

Dust Bejan Bejan Barza Meli

Ey Darvīsh Darvīsh

Haqq Haqq-e Hū Hū

Haqq Sefīd Pūshān

Har Va aw Soltān

Hey Dāwed (fast)

Hey Dāwed (faster)

Hey Dāwed (slow)

Papū Soleymāni

Sāheb Tūl-e Zar Dāwed

Shāh Nematollāh Valīan Haqq

Shām Āmā

Shīrīna Leylā

Shoq-e Shādīman

Soltān Sahākī

Soltān sar Jam

Soltān-e Mardān

Wa Āmāna Kū

Wa Fedāy Manzelgāt

Wa nokht-e kalām dīdadār-e shūn 

Wālā Wītāna

Yā Soltān Āmān Āgerem Dāy

Yār dīdagīānī Benyāmīn pīra

Yārān wa bāten ye dang-ī mayū

Zāt-e Yār Dāwed Hāzeran va Jam

Ostad Elahi

Ostad Elahi called this joyful melody, whose inspiration came to him during a forty-day spiritual pilgrimage to Ali’s memorial in Najaf, Iraq, the “Najaf Melody” (Āhang-e Najaf). Incorporating passages from the Saharī and Gol wa Khār tunes, Ostad would play this melody either alone, as a central theme for other melodies, or as a linking pattern designed to ornament various modes. An “expansive” melody that shoots toward new horizons before returning to the original theme, it can be accompanied by secondary tunes or incorporated in them. This track is from a recorded session that took place in a family setting where nothing had been prepared or planned in advance: Ostad picked up his instrument, a microphone was placed before him, a recorder was turned on, and people sat and listened.Though permeated with a profound nostalgia, this piece is actually quite elating. The consonant harmonies in the major tonality create a bright and positive mood. Ostad draws upon a variety of playing techniques, at times playing on all strings with all ﬁngers, at other times only with one ﬁnger, thereby creating varied harmonic effects and a rich polyphony.

Mobārak Bādā Suite (2nd Version)

This piece is given an unexpected and original interpretation, reminiscent at times of the variations on the same theme found in the Najaf melody (see Track 1). Although it is a modal piece, dominant and tonic alternate. The ﬁrst section is prolonged by a prayer Ostad particularly liked, inspired by a basic melody (gūshe) of classical Iranian music called Mansūrī. The sung text is a prayer from one of spiritual companions of Shāh Khoshīn, a great Kurdish saint from the 11th century who elevated the tanbur to a sacred level.In this prayer, the poet expresses his exclusive love for the divine:<blockquote>You were my beginning, You will be my end You have drawn me from a drop of water I care not about Your paradise or Your hell My only hope is that You will always be with me.</blockquote>The melody in the next section was arranged by Ostad based on verses from Pīr Razbār, a revered Kurdish saint of the 14th century. Her poetry expresses the spiritual state of those who travel across the “plain” of passion in search of the divine, overwhelmed by divine love to the point of directly invoking Him in simple words, which begin as follows:<blockquote>Eshq-e Haqq wa sar sheet-e wītāna Wa[Cha] manzelgātān kām djā djītāna They are in love with Truth, those whom we call enamored with God What place shall you hold in eternity?</blockquote>This section is followed by Mobārak Bādā. A change of color and atmosphere transpires, as the overall tone becomes more nostalgic. Several themes are brought together in a passage rich with polyphonies, harmonies, nuances, and rhythmical shifts. This, in turn, is followed by a variant of Zang-e Shotorī—a soft, melodic, and serene piece whose gentle swaying evokes the marching of camels in a caravan. This musical form is found in classical Persian music as well.

Several tunes are strung together here:<blockquote>Ali āmān yā Ali / Dakhīlem wa to Ali Ali, help, O Ali / Upon You I rely, Ali1</blockquote>This verse is followed by Tchapī, a dance tune, which serves as a linking pattern to the next tune.<blockquote>Yā Soltān āmān āgerem dāy O Soltān, mercy, You have set me aﬂame!</blockquote>This verse was composed by Ostad. The Tchapī theme keeps returning throughout this improvisation, as new forms emerge at every moment in a dazzling proliferation of sonorities.<ol class="number"><li value=1>The name of Ali in this context refers to the manifestation of the Divine; Ostad sometimes invoked the name “Soltān” as well.</li></ol>

Ostad Elahi had a small Persian setār he had named bolbol (nightingale), which was a replica of his five-stringed tanbur, only smaller. A travel instrument with a flat body, he would almost always take it with him on his trips. The manner in which he played this instrument defied all expectations, for he would freely combine techniques specific to the tanbur (the rolling of the fingers on all strings) with those of the setār (using one finger only). This style of playing became especially popular among setār players who followed him. Here, Ostad is playing in an intimate family setting during the last years of his life (in the early 1970s). Despite the poor recording quality, the piece captures the spiritual fervor that united the participants.Āmān Sad Āmān This song was composed by Hādj Nematollāh, Ostad Elahi’s father, at the onset of his illumination around 1901. Its lyrics, which invoke the Creator’s attribute of mercy, are a kind of petition addressed to the spiritual King or Beloved:<blockquote>Āmān sad āmān, shāy karamdārān Karam kheyre kar, wa hāl-e yārānHave Mercy, O Merciful King Bless Your companions with Your Grace</blockquote>Ey Darvīsh Darvīsh This song was also composed by Hādj Nematollāh during the same period. It is addressed to the Lord, referred to here as a dervish, for it appears that Hādj Nematollāh witnessed the Beloved in the guise of a dervish and composed this song in praise of Him:<blockquote>Ey darvīsh darvīsh, īmānem darvīsh Ez va fedāt bām, pā benyar wa pīshO Dervish, O Dervish, my faith rests in You My life is Yours, come to me, come!</blockquote>Soltān Sahākī The music and lyrics of this song were composed by Ostad:<blockquote>Soltān Sahākī Ali gīān Shāy tanīā tākī Ali gīānYou are Soltān Sahāk, O beloved Ali You are the unique and peerless King, O beloved Ali</blockquote>Only the melody is played here.Shīrīna Leylā Initially, this soft melody was used to accompany a hymn by Hādj Nematollāh that can be translated as follows: “All in this world is precarious, O Beloved Dāwūd / Only the Truth shall remain, O Beloved Dāwūd,” an allusion to the Quranic verse: “All that is on earth will perish, but abide (forever) will the Face of thy Lord, full of Majesty, Bounty, and Honor.”1Although dedicated to Dāwūd, the archangel of mercy, this hymn invokes the divine attributes of majesty and rigor, so that when performed by a group it was considered to be ominous. During one of his trips to the west regions of Iran, Ostad Elahi modified the lyrics and turned this hymn of mourning into one of joy:<blockquote>Shīrīna Leylāna leylāna Shīrīnī khorīā vey mīkānaIt is here that we have tasted sweetness</blockquote><ol class="number"><li value=1>55: 26-7.</li></ol>

Hymns

Ostad Elahi had translated a prayer by Hazrat-e Ali1 from the original Arabic into Persian and Kurdish. For several months, he would sing it every day upon awakening. Later, he would quote certain verses of this prayer when playing the tanbur. Here, he sings an excerpt of it in its original Arabic version, interspersed with short invocations in Persian: “Ali jān, āmān” (O Beloved Ali, help me) in the Mansūrī mode (tchahārgāh dastgāh). The recording dates back to 1965 when Ostad was seventy years old. Below is a translation of a few of the verses:<blockquote>Praise to You, benevolent and glorious Lord You who knows all that is hidden and revealed My Creator, my Refuge, my Support It is You that I implore, in hardship and in fortune No matter how great my failings, Your forgiveness is greater still I have succumbed to temptation, now I am plagued by remorse O God, hear my plea For You know how miserable and destitute I am.</blockquote>Chanted sequences of a deep lyrical character, to which the tanbur answers in kind, alternate throughout this piece with rhythmic sequences and a leitmotif (minor third). The combination of these various elements—rhythm, leitmotif, repetition of ornamented notes, and unfamiliar harmonies—produces a state of elation. The second section of this piece, a sort of Zang-e Shotorī followed by a stirring hymn or zekr (Ali Hū Hū . . .), inspires one with an irresistible movement.<ol class="number"><li value=1>A great saint of the Shiite tradition and the son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad.</li></ol>

Prayer of Hazrat-e Ali

Tchapī is part of the Kurdish dance repertoire. It is played in the context of festivities or to express spiritual enthusiasm. This is one of the earliest recordings of Ostad’s music: it was made in 1960 without his knowledge behind the closed door of the room where he had been playing for about an hour. The quality of the recording is naturally poor, but the interpretation of tchapī presented here clearly justifies its inclusion in this selection. The listener is carried into a thrilling dance rhythm that is sustained throughout this masterly improvisation. Although tchapī often appears in Ostad’s playing (whether as a central piece or as a passage), it takes on a different form each time. In the instant case, it is played on a Persian scale with a neutral third, endowing it with a special quality.

Jam Neyān

Details

Renditions of Jam Neyān

More Hymns on same Album

Jam NeyānVocal

Details

Renditions of Jam Neyān

More Hymns on same Album

Jam Neyān