Last night, the Festival du Monde Arabe in Montreal presented a concert by the Ensemble Golshan, a group of excellent musicians from the Montreal music scene. On the menu: a gentle, poetic journey through classical Persia (Iran) in the 19th and 20th centuries. No, Persia (Iran) is not Arabic, I know. Nevertheless…
Persian classical music, like its Western cousin, is often organized according to very formal structures. If we dare make a comparison, we could say that all the pieces on the programme were structured along the lines of an introduction and dance. A slow, atmospheric first part, largely improvised, gave way to a fast, rhythmically assertive second. That said, even the more energetic sections exuded a feeling of serenity and beneficial abandon. This very accessible example of Iranian art music offered listeners some fine instrumental exchanges as well as some very seductive vocal passages (interpreted with finesse by Habib Hoseini’s buoyant, tonally balanced voice. Habib Hoseini has a lovely tenor with a nicely filled-out bass for lyrical effect). In theory, the sharp tones of the tar and kamancheh should be balanced by the mellower, warmer timbre of the oud. Yesterday, the oud was very discreet. Too much, in fact, I would have liked more. A detail that could be remedied by a differently calibrated sound amplification.
All in all, it was an evening of fine musical refinement, offered by musicians who do honour to Montreal by having chosen it (for the most part) as their artistic adoptive home. I’d like to highlight the work of Saeed Kamjoo on kamancheh (also director of the ensemble), Ziya Tabassian on percussion (tombak, daf), Hamed Vatankhah on oud, Maryam Tazhdeh on târ and Habib Hoseini on classical Persian singing.
Photo credit: Mohand Belmellat
