[Heavy News] Announcing Araz Salek's electrifying new album, ‘Peripheries of Nahavand’.
Announcing Araz Salek's electrifying new album Peripheries of Nahavand
Aficionado's of Eastern classical music from the Arab, Ottoman and Iranian world will find much to enjoy on Peripheries of Nahavand. This is a record that keeps giving with every listen, overflowing with beauty, sophistication and emotion. It is sure to take its place amongst the very finest releases of 2025.
For Fans of: Hossein Alizadeh, Ross Daly, Kayhan Kalhor, Efren Lopez
From: Tehran, Iran (living in Toronto, Canada)
Album Release: 11 April 2025
Single Release: Out now
Announcing Peripheries of Nahavand, the new album from Araz Salek, out 11 April 2025 on Worlds Within Worlds.
While Tehran-born ensemble leader and tar player Araz Salek began his instruction in Iranian dastgāh music, his new album Peripheries of Nahavand overflows with artistic sparks from the broader region. The result is a stunning collection of modal music compositions inspired by Turkish and Arabic makam music with influences from the Iranian dastgāh tradition.
The album is named after Nahavand, which is both a prominent makam in Turkish and Arabic music as well as a historic city in western Iran. Strangely enough, there is no trace of a makam named Nahavand in Iranian dastgāh music. Araz, however, was deeply affected upon hearing the makam for the first time:
“I first heard makam Nahavand about 30 years ago, when I was 14 years old. Our Qur’an teacher in school played us a beautiful recording of Mustafa Ismail, a legendary Egyptian qari, and explained that it is in makam Nahavand. Two of those stunning melodic phrases stuck with me all these years - and I draw from both melodies in Goshâyesh 15 and in the first tar solo of the album.”
The six pieces which make up the album are beautifully balanced, boasting a maturity, finesse and grace. Perhaps this is no surprise given the standing of those involved: respected tombak player Pedram Khavarzamini and producer and multi-instrumentalist Efrén López make up the core of the album along with Araz Salek’s masterful tar playing. In addition there are well selected guest contributions from Asare Shekarchi (vocals), Aria Mohafez (santour), Derya Türkan (kemençe) and Houshmand Ebadi (ney).
The first single from the album, Goshāyesh 11, acts as a statement of intent for the album, bursting forth with an electrifying 11 beat rhythmic cycle that puts the ensemble's sublime musicianship on full display. The combination of Araz’s tar, Aria Mohafez’s santour and Efrén López’s oud, driven by Pedram Khavarzamini’s wonderful tombak playing, is breathtaking.
“This piece has an interesting origin,” explains Araz. “When my son Daryan was three, he would sit on my shoulders and we would sing a silly but cheerful melody that popped into my mind one day. When I began to pay attention to the melody, I found it was in an 11 beat cycle - which is an unusual meter for Iranian music. So when I started working on pieces for this album, I reappropriated that rhythm with a piece in Nahavand makam.”
Born and raised in Iran, Araz had the opportunity to study tar and dastgāh thoroughly before his move to Canada. But it was his discovery of Labyrinth Musical Workshop - founded and led by master of contemporary modal music Ross Daly - that changed the focus of his art and practice.
“My involvement with Labyrinth musicians and in particular Ross Daly had a significant impact,” says Araz. “Those influences manifested themselves in forms, rhythmic cycles, and modulations that were not accessible to me before working with Labyrinth. These days I’m inspired to explore a more regional approach to composition. While I have my training in Iranian dastgāh music, I experiment with compositional forms, rhythmic cycles, and modulations from Turkish and Arab repertoire.”
“While this album is deeply rooted in tradition, I recognise that tradition is a living phenomenon - an ever-changing idea, and an ever-changing sound. In this recording I turned towards a ‘transmodal’ approach to making music. For me transmodality is a notion that is still developing. It is more of an idea to foster music making opportunities that present themselves in the transit of modalities.”
Aficionado's of Eastern classical music from the Arab, Ottoman and Iranian world will find much to enjoy on Peripheries of Nahavand. This is a record that keeps giving with every listen, overflowing with beauty, sophistication and emotion. It is sure to take its place amongst the very finest releases of 2025.
Araz Salek’s Peripheries of Nahavand is out 11 April 2025 on Worlds Within Worlds.
The first single from the album, Goshāyesh 11, is out now.