The song of the phoenix - Farnoosh Khodadadeh, daf & vocals & AAVAAZ

Anyone who wants to keep cherishing hope for humanity and trust in the power of the mind must realize that culture transcends political regimes. Today, there is hardly a better example to be found than in the classical traditions from Iran/Persia, whose words and sounds have reached us for centuries, despite weapons and violence. In In Samenspraak of birds by Attar Neishabouri, an Iranian poet from the 12th century, the phoenix appears as a creature with mysterious songs that touch all living beings. He lives as a loner, detached from everything, and knows when his end is approaching. Then he builds a pyre, sings his lament about the sorrow of mortality, burns, and turns to ash. From those ashes, a new phoenix rises: bearer of beauty, renewal, and the continuous movement of life. Attar shows with this that nothing is infinite, and that letting go and accepting death are among our heaviest life tasks. Inspired by this cycle, Shahab Azinmehr composed a musical work that he creates in song and play with Nathan Daems, Seraphine Stragier, and Farnoosh Khodadadeh, to experience and share the beauty of life, death, and resurrection together in mourning and joy. setar, vocals, composition & arrangements Shahab Azinmehr / saxophone & vocals Nathan Daems / daf & vocals Farnoosh Khodadadeh / cello, yayli tambur, harp & vocals Seraphine Stragier / text & translations Farnoosh Khodadadeh & Josse De Pauw / © Bjorn Comhaire, Jan Stragier & Tim Vandenbergh farnoosh.be