Kobane

Description

Rare and bold. The musicality is intense and lyrical. Songs full of passion where fervor and joy shine through. Anthem to the victorious city on the Syrian-Turkish border. This new album Kobane is a musical journey in search of the melodies and rhythms of Kurdish culture. The contemporary fate of the Kurdish people is at the heart of this album, which opens with an instrumental and vocal piece that gives it its title. This anthem to the victorious city on the Syrian-Turkish border, whose lyrics say that the Sirvan river protects the sacred fire of Zoroastrianism, combines traditional melodies and instruments with percussion revealing exchanges and an openness to the world that confirms that no culture will ever be impermeable again. In 2013, Nishtiman's first album was a shock. Suddenly, one could hear music uniting Kurdish culture, transcending state, historical, and even religious borders. Suddenly, Kurdistan was expressing itself all together - and, by the way, the word nishtiman means homeland. Kobane confirms that its Kurdistan is not trapped in the myths of a past that should be revived as illuminated in some venerable grimoire. On the contrary, the project is to make a future shine that is as open as it is rooted, with both traditional and contemporary music. As with Nishtiman's previous album, most of the compositions are by Sohrab Pournazeri, singer, tanbur and kamanché player, and the artistic direction of Hussein Zahawy, daf, dohol, and bendir player. Around them, we find zorna, balaban, and duduk player Ertan Tekin, singer Donya Kamali, African percussion specialist Robin Vassy, and santur player Mayar Toreihi. Together, they produce music that is obviously no longer that of the villages, but has retained that radiant and combative soul that has traversed so many centuries. This music that shapes an open future to the world resembles a rebound, a relay, a wake-up call. And that sound crosses the clamor of arms.