Lost Songs of the Silk Road

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Lost Songs of the Silk Road
Lost Songs of the Silk Road.jpg
Studio album by
Released1997
Label Shanachie [1]
Producer Brian Cullman
Ghazal chronology
Lost Songs of the Silk Road
(1997)
As Night Falls on the Silk Road
(1998)

Lost Songs of the Silk Road is the debut album by Ghazal, a trio made up of Iranian and Indian musicians. [2] [3] Swapan Chaudhuri played the tabla, Kayhan Kalhor played the kamancheh, and Shujaat Khan played the sitar. [4] [5] The album was released in 1997. [6] [7]

Contents

Production

The album was produced by Brian Cullman. [8] It was recorded in New York City. The songs began with a basic melody played by Kalhor and Khan, before turning to improvisation. [9]

Critical recpeption

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [10]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [11]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [8]

The New York Times stated: "Each piece is a long three-way improvisation based on simple melodies that the players push back and forth, and the reedy scrape of Kayhan Kalhor's bowed fiddle creeps out stealthily like a human voice, a rough and ancient sound against the metallic ringing of the sitar." [12] Billboard deemed the album a "soulful, pioneering hybrid." [13]

The Oregonian praised the "slow, dreamlike improvisations marked by elegant thematic development and marvelous subtlety and detail." [14] Ethnomusicology concluded that "the melodic expression on this CD hovers somewhere between dastgah and rag, but Shujaat's forceful improvisations tend to pull the whole closer to Indian styles and structures." [15]

AllMusic called the album "a fascinating meeting of Persian and Indian musical and cultural influences." [10]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."The Saga of the Rising Sun" 
2."Come with Me" 
3."You Are My Moon" 
4."Safar/Journey" 

Related Research Articles

The music of Iran encompasses music that is produced by Iranian artists. In addition to the traditional folk and classical genres, it also includes pop and internationally celebrated styles such as jazz, rock, and hip hop.

Persian traditional music or Iranian traditional music, also known as Persian classical music or Iranian classical music, refers to the classical music of Iran. It consists of characteristics developed through the country's classical, medieval, and contemporary eras. It also influenced areas and regions that are considered part of Greater Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qawwali</span> Sufi devotional music from South Asia

Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in South Asia. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has also gained mainstream popularity and an international audience as of the late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamancheh</span> Iranian bowed string instrument

The kamancheh is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek music with slight variations in the structure of the instrument. The kamancheh is related to the rebab which is the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and the bowed Byzantine lyra. The strings are played with a variable-tension bow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayhan Kalhor</span> Iranian Kurdish musician (born 1964)

Kayhan Kalhor is an Iranian Kurdish kamancheh and setar player, and a vocal composer. He has received three Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album nominations. Kalhor also has earned two nominations and won one Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikhil Banerjee</span> Musical artist

Pandit Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee was an Indian classical sitarist of the Maihar Gharana. Along with Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan, he emerged as one of the leading exponents of the sitar. He was a recipient of the Indian civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klasik</span> Classical music of Afghanistan

The classical music of Afghanistan is called klasik, which includes both instrumental and vocal forms (ghazals). Many ustad, or professional musicians, are descended from Indian artists who emigrated to the royal court in Kabul in the 1860s upon the invitation of Amir Sher Ali Khan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Setar</span> Persian plucked musical instrument with three strings

A setar is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.

Ghazal is a band formed by Kurdish-Iranian kamencheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Indian sitarist Shujaat Khan, and Indian tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri. Together, they perform music blending North Indian and Persian classical and light classical traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shujaat Khan</span> Musical artist

Shujaat Husain Khan is one of the most acclaimed North Indian musicians and sitar players of his generation. He belongs to the Imdadkhani gharana school of music. He has recorded over 100 albums and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for his work with the band Ghazal with Iranian musician Kayhan Kalhor. He also sings frequently. His style of sitar playing, known as gayaki ang, is imitative of the subtleties of the human voice.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandeep Das</span> Indian Tabla player and composer

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<i>Beyond Any Form</i> 2014 studio album by Homayoun Shajarian and Tahmoures Pournazeri

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masters of Persian Music</span> Iranian well-known music artists

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References

  1. Schwartz, Mark (May 1998). "Ghazal: Lost Songs of the Silk Road". Audio. Vol. 82, no. 5. p. 77.
  2. "Ghazal". NPR.
  3. Wald, Elijah (August 21, 2012). Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music. Routledge.
  4. Moon, Tom (September 26, 2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. Workman Publishing.
  5. Lavezzoli, Peter (April 24, 2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. A&C Black.
  6. Nooshin, Laudan (2017). Iranian Classical Music: The Discourses and Practice of Creativity. Routledge.
  7. "Music a mix of far-off songs". Ottawa Citizen. 29 Oct 1998. p. H3.
  8. 1 2 MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 2000. pp. 285–286.
  9. Curiel, Jonathan (November 5, 2003). "India, Iran an ideal musical groove". San Francisco Chronicle. p. D1.
  10. 1 2 "Ghazal: Lost Songs of the Silk Road". AllMusic.
  11. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. MUZE. pp. 733–734.
  12. Ratliff, Ben (11 Nov 1997). "Longer Songs to Fill Shorter Days". The New York Times. p. E3.
  13. Bambarger, Bradley (Dec 6, 1997). "Persian classical music finds U.S. ears". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 49. pp. 13, 89.
  14. Hughley, Marty (October 9, 1998). "Trio Aims to Reunite Two Brothers: The Music of Iran, India". Arts and Entertainment. The Oregonian. p. 44.
  15. Henderson, David R. (Spring–Summer 2003). "'Lost Songs of the Silk Road: Persian and Indian Improvisations: Ghazal'". Ethnomusicology. 47 (2): 280–283.