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Posted by Līsā


Album：Nine Heavens
Artist：Niyaz
Label：Six Degrees
Release：2008
Genre：Electronica / Acoustic / Folk



Disc One：
1-1 Beni Beni
1-2 Tamana
1-3 Feraghi - Song of Exile
1-4 Ishq - Love and the Veil
1-5 Allah Mazare
1-6 Iman
1-7 Molk-E-Divan
1-8 Hejran
1-9 Sadrang

Disc Two：
2-1 Allah Mazare (Acoustic)

2-2 Beni Beni (Acoustic)
2-3 Sadrang (Acoustic)
2-4 Tamana (Acoustic)
2-5 Feraghi - Song of Exile (Acoustic)
2-6 Hejran (Acoustic)
2-7 Ishq - Love and the Veil (Acoustic)
2-8 Molk-E-Divan (Acoustic)

About the Artist：
By any measure, Niyaz has come very far, very fast. The trio's 2005 debut featured a convincing blend of Sufi mysticism and trance electronica, and quickly established them as a standout ensemble in a very crowded world music field. A worldwide tour followed. Now, Niyaz returns with Nine Heavens, which doesn't just cross cultural and stylistic boundaries, but the centuries as well. Drawing on medieval Persian poetry and 300-year old Persian folk songs, Niyaz has created a 21st century global trance tradition.

This may seem like a tall order for a band that's barely three years old - until you realize who these musicians are. Vocalist Azam Ali co-founded the best-selling world music duo Vas in 1996; her unmistakable voice has graced numerous recordings and major film scores. Loga Ramin Torkian is a multi-instrumentalist whose group Axiom of Choice brought the ancient sounds of Persian classical music to Western listeners in the 1990s. And producer Carmen Rizzo, a multiple Grammy nominee, has worked with Coldplay, Seal, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and many others. Small wonder then that the trio hit the ground running with its self-titled debut. Now, with Nine Heavens, Niyaz breaks new ground in a two-disc format: the first is an adventurous, spiritual exploration of the ties that bind Persian, Indian, Turkish, and Western dance music. The second disc showcases 8 out of the 9 songs in a purely acoustic setting.

Nine Heavens begins with the irresistible "Beni Beni," which marries an 18th century Turkish Sufi poem to a traditional Turkish folk song and some beautifully integrated electronics and programming. "It's a modern kind of Sufi music," Azam explains. "Both Loga and I are influenced by Turkish music, and there are many connections between Turkey and Iran." The steady, trance rhythms support layers of Turkish and Persian lutes, all topped by a new instrument known as the kamman, a larger, lower-pitched version of the traditional Persian fiddle.

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Niyaz是一個由Carmen Rizzo、Azam Ali與 Loga Ramin Torkian三位元音樂人組成的伊朗樂隊，他們的作品新舊混合,以前衛的音樂表現永恆的聲音。其歌詞也大都來自Sufi mystics與波斯詩人Rumi等經典詩詞，所以Niyaz的歌聲展現了一種古代的美感，極容易讓人產生一種迷幻的嚮往。

Azam Ali 出生在伊朗，四歲後到了印度，在那裡她接受了11年的印度音樂與文化的薰陶，1985年，她隨其母親移居洛山基，很快，便開始學習彈奏santour琴。她跟隨santour琴大師Manoocher Sadeghi學習了五年，之後開始歌唱生涯。同時她還是著名的兩人團Vas的vocal，並曾在Angels of Venice的專輯裡獻聲。

Azam一直對早期音樂有著濃厚興趣，尤其是Hildegard Von Bingen。“記得當我第一次聽到Hildegard Von Bingen的聖歌時，真的因敬畏而感到顫慄“，她回憶當時的情景，”那聲音如鐘鈴般穿行，撞擊著我的心弦，卻象我的靈魂一樣熟悉。這讓我感到儘管不同的文化孕育著不一樣的聲音，但人們對音樂本質的渴求，對上帝的歌頌，卻能喚起同樣的情緒。“她的歌聲受到印度與波斯的歌唱家Laxmi Shankar，Asha Bhosle, and Sima Bina, 黎巴嫩歌唱家Marie Keyrouz以及早期音樂的歌者Emily Van Evera的影響。同時，由於成長環境的潛移默化，她詞曲風格接近波斯民謠與印度禱歌。

到這裡，也許人們會真的意識到Azam的與眾不同，在眾多走民族融合路線的女歌手中，早期的Ofrah Haza與她比較接近。她的聲音宛如樂器，不帶塵世的味道，深具感召力，散佈到世界的每個角落，她將伊斯蘭教，基督教，猶太教，阿拉伯宗教音樂完美地融合在一起，帶入同一個天國中，那裡沒有紛爭，沒有誘惑，只有永恆的聲音高貴優雅的吟誦不知名的歌謠與啟示。 再不要說民族融合就只有Sheila Chandra, Natacha Atlas而已，沒什麼味道，這裡只是起點，還有更長的路要走。也許我可以說，在人們未到達目的地之前，路旁永遠會有誘人的風景，只看你是否為此就停住了腳步不前。