amazon.com
Tangent TNGS 108 STEREO
1971
amazon.com
Tangent TNGS 108 STEREO
1971
Side 1
1. the silver Gun · TOFANG-E-NOQREH [2:13]
2. the Wheat-flower · GOLE-GANDUM [2:13]
3. the Rain · VARUN-VARUNEH [2:09]
4. the Stars in heaven · SETAREH-ASEMUN [1:19]
5. On top of the hill · AY SAR KOTAL [2:33]
6. the silken Handkerchief · DASMALE-HARIR [2:27]
7. Darling Leyli · PACHE LEYLI [2:07]
8. I have come to ravish my betrothed · YAR BARDANEH BAMO [1:24]
side 2
9. the Lor youth · LOR BACHE [1:41]
10. Lullaby · LAY-LAY [2:12]
11. the girl from the Boyer Ahmadi tribe · DOKHTAR BOYER AHMADI [1:56]
12. my Beloved is short · KUTAH-QAMAT [2:23]
13. the Water-pipe · NARGUILEH [1:43]
14. You must come to me · TO BIO [1:37]
15. Darling Dareyne · DAREYNE-JAN [2:43]
16. Masnavi · MASNAVI [3:55]
Shusha
flute, Duncan Lamont
zarb, Behboudi
a Myke Steyn production
NOTES BY Maurice Rosenbaum
When I first heard Shusha sing, some three years ago, in a recital of
French and English songs, I wrote that she had "the dark beauty of
Persia and a voice to match". Curiously enough, my most enduring
impression was of the songs she might have sung: songs in which the
warmth, flexibility, wine-texture and precision of her voice might have
found the language and the vocal tradition most perfectly suited to her
range. Now, drawing inspiration from the roots of her being, she
devotes her first LP entirely to Persian songs, thus opening up for us
a corner of the Eastern world of which most of us know little. Her
songs reflect a folk art in the truest sense, an art which sprang from
and is still within reach of the simplest people, the distillation of
millenia of shared visions. These songs of love, separation, betrothal,
sexual symbolism and gnomic wisdom are impeccably sung, some with flute
or finger-drum accompaniment, some unaccompanied. This, to me, is one
of the joys of listening to the record: to follow the metrical
intricacy and melodic subtlety of the songs, the extraordinarily
refined melismatic arabesques, the sudden dark rhythms and the sinuous
calligraphy of the sound. Note, too, the haunting Oriental dry notes so
cleanly cut as to continue of their own volition to infinity: many
singers can produce a cool, perfect tone, but few can end it, as Shusha
does here, leaving the sound suspended in its own silence. . .
SIDE 1
1 the silver Gun
TOFANG-E-NOQREH
from Shiraz, southern Persia
They say a man's best friend is his horse.
But I say it's his gun, for what can a horseman do without a gun?
I sold my silver-barrelled gun and bought a brocade gown for my beloved;
she sent it back, refused it, now I have no gun and no love!
2 the Wheat-flower
GOLE-GANDUM
a harvest song, sung wherever wheat is grown all over Persia
The wheat is in flower, like the girls who sowed it, dancing this way
and that.
The moon is shining in the sky, my crop is abundant, my love is beside
me.
What more can a mortal want?
3 the Rain
VARUN-VARUNEH
a Guilaki song from Guilan, northern Persia
Her eyes have stung me to death, like a scorpion,
her hair, like a hunter, has captured me; but she doesn't return my
love.
The rain is falling and I am soaked through.
The love of that young girl has made me lose my reason and my religion.
4 the Stars in heaven
SETAREH-ASEMUN
from Shiraz, southern Persia
The stars in heaven are a replica of this earth
I am the ring and my beloved the turquoise therein
Come, let's play, for life is short, lasts a couple of days
From the day your mother tied you into the cradle, God tied us, you and
I, together.
5 On top of the hill
AY SAR KOTAL
from the Mamassani tribe, southern Persia
He was a flower, scattering flowers as he walked past
leaving me behind, dazed and bewildered; he found someone else and left
me.
Come back! Let's go to the top of the hill together
or to the shrine of Shah Cheragh, make a vow
and whoever breaks it will be punished.
I am drunk with love, cut through as by a blade.
6 the silken Handkerchief
DASMALE-HARIR
from Fars, southern Persia
THE GIRL. — Don't touch my handkerchief, it is silken, delicate.
THE BOY. — Your love has driven me mad, made me leave home and go to
the capital, Teheran.
THE GIRL. — Tell me, what is your name? What district do you come
from? Who do you know?
THE BOY. — I come from your part of the world, and I know only you.
7 Darling Leyli
PACHE LEYLI
a Guilaki song from Guilan, northern Persia
My beautiful Leyli, I have come to take you away;
put a necklace of flowers round your neck — tonight you will be
beside me.
Alas! you have not always appreciated my love, and I may go away, one
day.
8 I have come to ravish my betrothed
YAR BARDANEH BAMO
a Lor song
Tonight I am coming to take away my betrothed.
Go and shout it in the streets, so that everyone
knows.
I will come with a hundred horsemen; no one can stand in my way.
Heads will fall, swords will be crossed, but she will be
mine!
SIDE 2
1 the Lor youth
LOR BACHE
from the Bakhtiari tribe, southern Persia
Everything good belongs to the Lors.
The Lor youths have such beauty, speak such lovely language,
that not only I, but every star in heaven is in love with my handsome
young Lor!
2 Lullaby
LAY-LAY
from Gorgan, north-east Persia
Sleep, my flower, my beautiful tulip;
the leopard moans in the mountains; perhaps she is in love with her
cousin too?
Sleep, my lovely flower of hazelnut; let your mother work.
My poppy-flower, your father has gone away: God be with him.
3 the girl from the Boyer Ahmadi tribe
DOKHTAR BOYER AHMADI
from southern Persia
I don't know your name, just that you are the girl from the Boyer
Ahmadi tribe.
Come to my house — it will be yours if you want it. The lilac is
in flower but my flower hasn't arrived!
You are a wild bird, flown far away. Don't break my heart, my beloved,
my pretty flower of love.
4 my Beloved is short
KUTAH-QAMAT
from Fars, southern Persia
You are short, my beloved — perhaps because you are my life and
my life is going to be short.
I have come a long way, searching for you, drawn by the beauty of your
face, the beauty-spot on your lip. Now they say you are offering it for
sale. How much are you asking? Because I am bidding!
I would like to sit by you and kiss you all the time,
instead of nourishment, day and night,
and just look at you walk, speak, smile, dance . . .
5 the Water-pipe
NARGUILEH
I Popular quatrains; the first refers to the smoker's hubble-bubble pipe
I was a tree in the forest; they cut me down
They cut me down to make a water-pipe from me
So that fire burns always in my head.
I want you only, other flowers there are a-plenty
I want the rose, thorns there are a-plenty
I want my flower, to sit by its shadow
Otherwise the shadow of a wall would do.
6 You must come to me
TO BIO
from the Mamassani tribe, Fars, southern Persia
Come back to me, my beloved, you are the only one who can cure my
suffering.
Deprived of your presence, I am dying of grief!
You are so far away and take so long to come back,
that I shall die without seeing you!
7 Darling Dareyne
DAREYNE-JAN
from Mazenderan, Caspian region
Why have you made me suffer so much that I regret my love for you?
I shan't come to you any more, but I shall repeat your name.
I leave now for a faraway land and bid you farewell.
If you want me to come back, don't cry for me, just pray for me day and
night.
8 Masnavi
a traditional mystic chant from the Book of Rumi
A traveller saw Majnun sitting all alone in the middle of the desert.
Using a flat surface of sand as a sheet of paper and his fingers as a
pen, he was writing the name of his beloved Leyli over and over again.
The traveller said: O mad Majnun! what are you doing? If writing a
letter, who is to receive it?
Majnun replied: I practice the name of Leyli — since I cannot
reach her in real union,
I make love with her name.
Lyrichord LYRCD 7235