Dariush je iransko-američki muzičar koji svira na instrumentu koji se zove tar. Ukratko - napravio je jedan on najčudesnijih albuma (folk)elektroničke muzike.
Streaming ovdje.
This post-revolution Iranian album from 1985 is so ahead of its time, so completely off on its own sonically and stylistically - that you'd be forgiven for thinking it were a hoax. In reality it's one of the most sought-after and exceptional records from the Smithsonian Folkways catalogue, here brought back to life in this facsimile edition put together by the Dead Cert imprint - housed in a hand-assembled replica sleeve with a vinyl cut at D&M** For all intents and purposes, Iranian-American composer Dariush Dolat-Shahi's 'Electronic Music, Tar and Sehtar' is one of the most incredible electronic records we've ever heard. Until now, it's been the preserve of a small handful of collectors who rightly hold it in huge regard and close to their chests. A syncretic traversal of Iranian folk music and modular synth strafing radio-phonic, musique concrète, neo-tanktrik and sound design disciplines, it simply sounds quite unlike anything out there (if you know better, please, please share!) and has had us, and everyone who's heard it, utterly enraptured. OK, there may be some precedents in the work of electronic music pioneer Ilhan Mimaroglu, and it has undoubtedly directly or indirectly inspired music that has come since (Keith Fullerton Whitman's 'Variations For Oud & Synthesizer', for instance)', but we're sure you'll agree that the elements have rarely gelled so fluidly, phantastically psychedelic as this, before or since. It's possible to trace that combination of traditional and contemporary styles, mixed with a liberating sense of freedom and abstract expression, to the composer's history; from early enrolment in Shah-sponsored music schools and conservatories he was awarded scholarship for further studies in Holland, and when the revolution arrived in Iran he would permanently leave for the world famous Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in the late '70s, all priming Dariush's tastes and skills for these recordings made during the mid '80s, late at night in the university studios with the permission of Professor Ussachevsky. It's testament to its enduring magic that listening back now for the umpteenth time we're still bewildered and vividly transported as we were the first time, lost to its roil of tangled timbres and etheric dynamism, keeling to the metallic lushness of the strings and rendered mindblown at the synchronised sweeps of modular synth and simulated environs. It's a genuine wonder of the electronic music world, and an essential listen, by anyones standards. - boomkat
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• 3rd release from this archival vinyl series brought to you by Pre-Cert Home Entertainment and Finders Keepers
• Facsimile/Reproduction of a Smithsonian Folkways classic.
• Incredible 1985 recording of Iranian folk music mixed with modular electronics, tape manipulation and field recordings
• This is one of the most sought-after,
influential and hard to find recordings in the Smithsonian Folkways
catalogue, original copies change hands for a small fortune.
• Housed in a deluxe hand-made Smithsonian-style oversized outer with wraparound print
• Cut at D&M Berlin, Limited to 1000 copies
This release will undoubtedly be met by the same deep
breaths that have been shared by the small group of collectors who, over
the past few years, have held original copies of this rare Folkways
release in such high regard.
In simple terms this LP is the kind of record you wished
existed while nothing really came close to the mark. Respectfully and
subtly combining traditional Persian instrumentation, Modular synth
exercises, field recordings and tape manipulation - this debut
release from 1985 by Dariush Dolat Shahi bridges multiple cultural and
stylistic voids and vindicates the vinyl buying market’s recent
disparate interests in bygone Eastern experimental rock music,
radio-phonic experiments, musique concrete, sound design, neo-tantric
meditational records and other early accidental acidic electro murmurs.
For those who enjoyed the recently re-contextualised music
of Ilaiyaraaja and Charanjit Singh while holding tight to the legacy of
Pierre Schaeffer, Daphne Oram and the recently passed ilhan mimaroglu
and harbour penchants for all things drone, teutonic,
electronic, demonic and euphoric this record has just changed all your
plans for the weekend. A perfect primer for the aforementioned labels
and a proud indication of what to expect from this eternally studious
camp in 2013. -
www.normanrecords.com/Iranian-American composer Dariush Dolat-Shahi’s music occupies a unique and timeless place among the countless albums from the last half-century that mixed acoustic performances with electronic manipulations. Dolat-Shahi stands above his peers as a master of both crafts, able to weave together lush melodies from his tar, a traditional Persian lute, and spacey analog synth lines – which sound like they could have been recorded anytime between the sixties and now – into a complete whole that doesn’t feel stuck in one genre or time period. His 1985 album, Electronic Music, Tar and Sehtar, is the pinnacle of his achievements and easily one of the most interesting world music (is it even fair to call it that?) albums of all time. Electronic Music’s core is composed of sparse tar and sehtar – another variety of Persian lute – pieces upon which Dolat-Shahi heaps bleeps, bloops, and squawks of electronic noise, along withe the odd frog or bird, until the two distinct parts become so intertwined you wonder why the idea of Persian classical music run through a wash of moog noise ever sounded so odd in the first place. Dolat-Shahi has done a remarkable thing by taking the two great outsider sounds of world and experimental electronic music and combining them into a album that is more listenable and engaging than either could have been on their ow. -
Dr. Winston O'Boogie
Download:
Dariush Dolat-Shahi
From a Conversation with Dariush Dolat-shahi
Dariush Dolat-shahi is an Iranian-American composer and
instrumentalist on the tar, the traditional Persian lute. His compositions
include electronic and instrumental music as well as music for traditional
Persian instruments.
This text is based on conversations with Dariush Dolat-shahi
that took place on December 8 and 19, 2005.
Musical education
I was born in Tehran in 1947. Although my father was
interested in music, neither of my parents knew anything about it. My mom was
interested in poetry and writing. For what reason I do not know, they put me in
a musical academy when I was 10 years old. It took a while, but I gradually got
into it and I now feel grateful that they did that. At the beginning, my father
thought that he would put me there for a couple years to try and see what would
happen. But, as it turned out, I was happy and he was happy, so I stayed there.
There was no pressure for me to study anything other than music, even though
many other parents wanted their children to study law or medicine. We had
regular courses in music theory and harmony and everybody had to play piano. In
addition to that, you have to play one or two Persian instruments and study
both Western and Persian music history and theory. This was in the late 1950s.
Persian classical music was considered to be the main music. Even popular music
was greatly influenced by traditional Persian music.
I went to study at Tehran Conservatory. This was at the time
of the first of the Persepolis Festivals, which started in 1967, something with
which the Conservatory was involved. In those first years at the Conservatory,
the teaching quality and training in Western music was very high. There were a
number of teachers from the West. But in 1975-1976, people who knew better
began to return to their original countries, knowing that the coming political
conflicts were beginning to happen. Then the revolution came and that was the
end of the whole thing.
I graduated from college in 1968. I then joined to the music
department of the Army, where I conducted the band. Then I got a scholarship
from the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music. I left for Amsterdam in 1970.
First work in electronic music
My first exposure to electronic music came when I was a
student in Holland. In Iran, I had been part of a group of four people who used
to get together and listen to music by Schoenberg, Berg, Ligeti ... but not
specific electronic compositions. If I had heard any electronic music before
being in Holland, I don't remember that it had any significance to me. But
before I moved to Holland, I created my first piece for tape and string quartet
or chamber string ensemble, which was kind of an introduction to electronic
music for me. I had a Groendig, a small, heavy, 50-pound German tape recorder.
I recorded on one channel and then played it back while recording on the other.
It was really a test with sounds, but not a real composition.
Festval of Arts in Persepolis / Shiraz
Starting in 1967, the Iranian government television network
created an annual arts festival. They sponsored all of the commissions and
festivals. It was basically the queen's idea, the shah's wife, an architect who
had studied in France. She was the major force behind these annual festivals.
The queen used to regularly come to the festival and formally open it. I also
remember that all government officers had to buy modern art. The annual
festivals were a major source of information for us about what was happening
musically outside Iran. Works were commissioned from Karlheinz Stockhausen,
John Cage, and Iannis Xenakis, and choreographers Maurice Bejart and Merce
Cunningham. There were a lot of pieces for live orchestra and tape. Every year,
I waited for the event to happen. I received my own first commission when I was
nineteen years old. One of my works was played at the 1976 festival, a year
before the festivals ended.
Study abroad towards a proposed Iranian studio
The government sent me on a very specific mission to learn
electronic music. They gave me a scholarship to go to Columbia. I was supposed
to do my studies and finish my degree and work at a newly proposed arts center.
They were planning to open a very large electronic music center at the
television station in Tehran, in which they wanted me to play a role that was
never clearly defined. The idea for this studio had a lot of support, since a
lot of electronic music was performed at the festivals. They wanted to have a
major center of their own. I knew that composer and architect Iannis Xenakis
had been invited two times to the Shiraz Festival and that he was asked to
draft plans.
I studied composition at the Conservatory with Ton de Leeuw.
But I studied electronic music with Gottfried Michael Koenig at the Institute
of Sonology in Utrecht. Studying in Utrecht wasn't what I expected. I thought
that I would immediately begin composing. But you first had to study acoustics,
which didn't interest me. I don't have a scientific mind. Eventually when we
finally began working with sound, I became more interested. I was there nearly
four years.
In 1974, I returned to Tehran. I felt the need, though, to
continue my education, since I didn't think that I had I learned enough. And so
I contacted Columbia University, where I was interested in studying. I knew
some of the works by Milton Babbitt and Vladimir Ussachevsky. I asked the
Iranian government to give me another scholarship and they did. While I waited
nine months for my scholarship to be approved, I taught composition at Tehran
University. The political situation was growing difficult. Islamic political
demonstrations started in 1975 and 1976, especially at Tehran University.
However, no one could have predicted the extent to which this would go. Things
were beginning to percolate before I left.
New York and Columbia-Princeton
First, when I arrived in 1975, I studied with Dr. Hubert S.
Howe, Jr., at Queens College. He was the director of the electronic music
studio. I first met him at a concert in Amsterdam. I didn't know who he was. I
told him that I was planning to come to the United States. He told me that if I
ever came, call him. Queens College was a helpful experience. I studied with
him for about nine months. I was doing practices and exercises, small pieces.
Being there was very much the opposite of Utrecht. There were a lot of
keyboards on which you could just sit down and play music.
I began my studies at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic
Music Center in 1976. At Columbia, there was a wide range people in terms of
personalities and teaching approaches. I composed my first really solid piece
there in 1976. I had a commission from the festival in Iran, a work for chamber
string orchestra and electronics, and I did the electronic tape at Columbia.
Every year we had a three-day group of electronic music concerts at Columbia. I
usually had a piece performed. In addition to that, there were concerts
organized by other organizations and played at different places in New York
City.
My most important teachers at Columbia were Vladimir
Ussachevsky and Mario Davidovsky. Also Alice Shields and Pril Smiley.
Ussachevsky was such a great man. He had so much energy and such a great mind.
I really enjoyed him as my teacher and friend. I went to his place in Vermont
on a few occasions. And also his wife was such a gentle soul and they were a
nice couple. He was a very intellectual, charming and warm with a very deep
sense of things. I had a very good spiritual connection with him. I understood
him and he understood me. We had a good conversation every time. I enjoyed his
presence. I think that I studied composition with Davidovsky. He was very
critical and very intellectual. Everything had another layer behind it when you
talked with him. Alice Shields and Pril Smiley were also wonderful people. I
had an especially wonderful understanding with Alice. She was a good composer
and always available to answer any questions.
Also important to me was Bźlent Arel, after he left Columbia
and was at SUNY Stony Brook. Arel was a very interesting man. Every time he
gave you advice, he would jokingly ask for a dollar. He was constantly making
jokes. He was a handy man, experimenting with sounds and letting you do it
yourself.
The year before the revolution, the television network
commissioned Ussachevsky and he was supposed to go over there. He was supposed
to write something for electronics and chamber orchestra. But a few months
before his scheduled departure, the Shah left the country. The commission had
been paid in part. They had also invited the chairman of the Columbia
University music department, Chou Wen-Chung, to visit Iran and we went
together. It was in the late 1970s, I'm not sure which year. He stayed for a
week or so. Among the things they spoke about was a plan to create a division
within the Columbia University art department for Persian studies, art of the
past and present. They also spoke about establishing studies related to modern
music and electronic music. They were going to get major funding from the
Iranian government.
I finished my Ph.D in 1981. I continued to use the studio for
a few years. I just asked Ussachevksy if I could use it and he said yes. I was
mostly going there at 10 pm and working all night. I don't know if I asked
Davidovsky. I wonder if Arel was still there. I also used the studio at SUNY at
Stony Brook. My connection with Stony Brook was through Bźlent Arel, who
directed their electronic music studio. Stony Brook invited me to play some of
my electronic music at school concerts. I was giving concerts at Carnegie Hall
and lectures on Persian music and also working as art director at Galaxy Music,
doing art work for album covers. I had a more informal art background, but I
took courses in graphic art. I had always done collages and small paintings at
home. I still do. I left New York in 1987. I contacted Ussachevsky and talked
to him a few years before he died. I read about his death in the New York
Times. I lost track of Arel. When I moved to Portland, I lost most of my
connections in New York.
After the Iranian revolution
One reason that I got professionally involved in art was
that at the beginning of the Islamic revolution in Iran, my scholarship was cut
off by the new government. It put me in a financially unstable situation. All
of my dreams were all ruined, so I decided to learn more about art and I took some
courses. That told me what kind of government it was going to be. My family
gradually left and now there is no one there.
I am in touch with some of my old musician and poet friends
in Iran. It seems that they have adapted to the new conditions. Those who did
only traditional music had no option but to stay. Somehow they have learned to
do their own things and the government doesn't interfere. The government tried
to close the music school, but they decided to keep it open and separate men
from women. It's a very dark place. Ironically, because of that, music actually
became more popular and everybody learned to play an instrument. Lots of small
private schools opened and everybody now plays an instrument. Their policies
had a reverse effect.
His current life and musical aesthetics
After moving to the West Coast, I taught composition at the
University of Portland and at a few other universities and colleges, for a few
years. Now, 70% of my time is devoted to composing and 30% is performing or
recording. I have also written a few pieces for orchestra, especially for
dance. I haven't had many live performances of my compositions. I don't know if
orchestras want to invest much money in an unknown composer. I am still doing
electronic music, now with computer. I have two keyboards, including my
Kurzweil K2500, and Digital Performer. I'm pretty busy with that. I've been
working recently on another dance piece.
My performances of music for tar and setar are a combination
of traditional and contemporary. I wouldn't call it classical Persian music. My
recent performances are more influenced by not only Western, but many different
types of music, from Indian, jazz, Latin ... My performances don't even sound
Persian now. But this eclectic approach is not new for me. Back in 1981, after
I graduated from Columbia, I composed a series of works for tar, setar and
electronics. While the instrumental pieces that I did at that point remained in
line with the abstract, serial Columbia style, the electronic music equipment
allowed me to express another part of myself. Working mostly on my own, I
became involved in a more expressionist style. I let it out. 
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