Desert Equations: Azax Attra (Made to Measure, Vol. 8)

Description

When it was released in 1986, this album was greeted with enthusiasm, admiration and disbelief: no one had ever done anything like it. Listening to it again in 2021, this dazzling and inspired blend of Persian tradition, New York avant-garde and electronic music remains just as possessed, incomparable and spellbinding. Combining the sublime voice of Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim with the electronic sorcery of American composer Richard Horowitz, Desert Equations wonderfully weaves together the diverse sources that nourished the duo: their experiences at the epicenter of the New York avant-garde scene in the early 80s, the intimate knowledge Sussan had acquired of traditional Persian music and its reverberations in the artistic scenes of 70s Iran (she was part of the Persian national ballet before working with Maurice Béjart), and Richard’s rich background in electronics, Moroccan popular music and jazz (he moved in the American free jazz expat scene in Paris during the seventies and played there with Braxton, Alan Silva and Steve Lacy). This futuristic album notably captivated writer Paul Bowles, who wondered: “was this music created under the influence of majoun?”, which led him to advise filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci to entrust the score for his film adaptation of “A Tea in the Sahara” (Bowles’s cult novel) to Richard Horowitz, who was awarded a Golden Globe for this work. 'Desert Equations: Azax Attra' was adapted into a musical theater production, commissioned by New York’s famous La MaMa Theatre. This reissue is fully remastered, and includes three previously unreleased bonus tracks, as well as an extensive booklet (in the vinyl version) containing numerous photographs and a joint journal in which the protagonists recount their incredible, individual and shared stories. Following the release of Desert Equations, Sussan Deyhim and Richard Horowitz recorded many albums, together or separately, including Majoun, Logic of the Birds, Madman of God and Shy Angels (the albums Sussan devoted to Persian Sufi poetry), 'Possessed' and 'Turbulent' (albums made by Sussan in collaboration with visual artist Shirin Neshat), and La Belle et la Bête. Sussan Deyhim also worked with Peter Gabriel, Jah Wobble, Bobby McFerrin, Adrian Sherwood, Bill Laswell, Ornette Coleman and Alexandre Desplats (for the soundtrack of the film "Argo"). Richard Horowitz collaborated with Jaron Lanier, Hassan Hakmoun, David Byrne, was the original artistic director of the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival, and wrote and recorded music for films by Oliver Stone, Bob Swaim, as well as several Moroccan filmmakers, including Nour Eddine Lakhmari, Faouzi Bensaidi & Souheil Ben Barka. Before 'Desert Equations', Richard had recorded two albums, including the mythical 'Eros in Arabia' (1981, recently reissued by the New York label FTS-RVNG).