“… a young Iranian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, has released his solo album…”
Pouya Mahmoodi: Mehr
By: Daniela Candillari
It has been a while since Pouya Mahmoodi, a young Iranian singer, guitarist, and songwriter, has released his solo album Mehr after his collaborations on Barad (release date February 19, 2008). Before taking a look at Mahmoodi’s musical style, it is important to glance over some details of his musical training: he was introduced to acoustic guitar at the age of 10. Some of his early influences were rock bands such as Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. During his stay in Paris, Mahmoodi says he missed his home very much. To help him get through that period, he started searching for his roots in the music and started playing Iranian traditional melodies that he had heard on his guitar. Out of this nostalgia came a musical expression that is unique to him: in approaching traditional music, he not only had a wish to play those melodies, but also to shape them in a way that would make them sound fresh and improvised every time.
This album presents a blend of rock, jazz, and traditional Iranian music; Mahmoodi focuses on building melodies from the traditional folk music but does not use any of the traditional Iranian musical instruments. Song Raz o Niaz is a perfect example: the opening melodic line evokes a folk song supported by a guitar riff that reminds the sound of George Benson. A beautiful play of metric irregularity is present: instead of the typical 4 or 8 measures, phrases span 11 measures.
The album’s opening song, Si Pareh, immediately shows the aforementioned blend of Eastern and Western music. The song’s rhythmic structure, 7/4, reminds one of John Coltrane. Furthermore the phrasing becomes everything but regular: the lines are built in 14 beats, grouped in 5+5+4.
Zaar, a musical rite little known in the West, was a basis for two songs, Dingomaro and Noban. It was also heard on the album with Barad. The practice of Zaar came from East Africa to the Persian Gulf, and is still practiced today in southeastern Iran. Zaar music unfolds through the polyrhythmic drumming. Mahmoodi made use of this practice in treating all of the instruments as rhythmic entities, including the female ensemble.
A different aspect of jazz, which adds another layer to the fusion sound of Mahmoodi, is heard in the song Sare Koohe Boland. Through its rhythmic punctuation, harmony, and guitar accompaniment the song actually reminds of Sting’s version of “How insensitive”, a song originally written by Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1963.
Most of the lyrics in the album are in Persian. Even though understanding the texts is desired to get a full grasp of poem settings, it is certainly not a prerequisite to enjoy this album. Mahmoodi has managed to keep the musical language transparent, and at the same time every song is very colorful, which is achieved through use of clever arrangements.
Without a doubt, the most interesting aspect of the album is despite the lack of Persian instruments for building melodies from the traditional music, the message and the feelings are well communicated. This makes the album stand out among all other Iranian albums to date.
