Battements au cœur de l’Orient

    Let me say straight off the bat that I witnessed the creative process of this seminal album and wrote its sleevenotes. So I am perhaps not in the most objective position to write about a CD I find outstanding in its thrust and trans-cultural relevance. But, for some reason, this recording has not yet been reviewed elsewhere in English, and it deserves to be brought to readers attention. So, here goes.

    This is Keyvan’s third recording for the Accords Croisés label. I followed one of the afternoon sessions between these seasoned artists, in an exchange that lasted three days. Anindo Chatterjee was on a transit visit between two continents and gladly lent his firebrand tabla hands to Keyvan’s project. It was a dream come true for the French Iranian who has always been fascinated by the metric precision and multiplicity of timbres produced by the Indian tabla. After years of collaboration with Indian percussionists, playing with one of the world’s greatest tablists was a natural progression for Keyvan, who has always thrived on exchanges between distinctive musical cultures.

    Distinctive, yes, yet India and Iran are so close in their musical geography and classical repertoires. The artistic explorations between the two nations reached a climax four centuries ago. Much of what we hear in North Indian classical music at present is influenced by Persian works. “It’s like meeting up with long-lost relatives,” explained to me another seasoned artist on this album, Ken Zuckerman. The sarod player has been collaborating with Chatterjee for 30 years and the mutual respect they have for each other made the studio exchanges all the easier for Keyvan. Zuckerman had no trouble using his melodic instrument as a rhythmic accompaniment for the zarb and tabla leads that dominate these nine tracks.

    For it is clear from the start that Keyvan decided to put the Irano-Indian percussions at the forefront of Battements au Coeur de l’Orient. Chatterjee’s crisp and melodious strokes accompany Keyvan’s zarb lead with the innate sense of timing that has made the likes of Ravi Shankar praise this Pandit as one of the world’s best. Keyvan’s mastery of the zarb’s subtle yet all-enveloping sound is answered by the higher-pitched “daya” and “baya” rhythms coaxed out of the tablas by Chatterjee.

    Around this, there is Zuckerman’s sarod, the kemenche from Greece played by Sokratis Sinopoulos, the evocative bansuri flute blown by Henri Tournier, the lyra strummed by Stelios Petrakis and the soulful vocals of Keyvan’s sister Maryam Chemirani. The family network is further strengthened by the presence of Keyvan’s younger brother Bijan on the saz and zarb. Together, they construct a homogenous, at times dazzling, conversation that sweeps along the listener from the beginning to the end of this aural feast.

    This was an important recording for Keyvan Chemirani. It was constructed during a particularly tragic moment of his life, when he lost a newborn girl he called Azadeh. He dedicated this “heartbeat” album to her memory, this “twinkling light” he will forever see in the sky. What more appropriate homage is there, then these heartfelt beats that ooze with emotion and generosity?

April 30th 2008.

Daniel Brown