Daramad

Dat er ook 'down under' in Australië boeiende wereldmuziek gemaakt wordt, wisten we al even. Vorig jaar passeerden Bombay Royale en The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra op deze blog. Vandaag stellen we je voor aan Daramad, een ensemble dat een beetje vanuit dezelfde filosofie tot stand kwam als Hijaz (België) of Arifa (Nederland). Ook hier ontmoeten uitstekende muzikanten met diverse muzikale achtergronden elkaar en wagen ze zich samen aan een avontuurlijke reis waarbij klassieke patronen uit het Midden-Oosten met jazzy toetsen gekruid worden. Bij Daramad fungeren ritmes en melodische thema's uit de klassieke Perzische muziek als een solide basis, groepsleden Reza Mirzaei (saz & gitaar) en Saeed Danesh (tonbak, daf & cajon) hebben immers hun roots in Iran. Philip Waldron (contrabas & tar), Michael Zolker (ud, tabla & riq) en Mark Cain (saxofoon, basklarinet, tarogato, hulusi, suling & rietorgel) zijn Australiërs die hun sporen verdienden in de jazz. Experimenteren met exotische instrumenten en zin voor improvisatie zijn hen niet vreemd. Vaak leiden dergelijke fusies, ondanks de goede bedoelingen en het spelplezier, tot een geforceerd resultaat.

Gelukkig geldt dit niet voor Daramad, getuige hun titelloze debuutalbum waarop acht oorstrelende pareltjes figureren. Opener 'Isfahan' is een compositie van Reza Mirzaei en klinkt zoals een klassiek Perzisch stuk met die subtiele nuance dat we in het herkenbare klanktapijt niet de obligate ney tegenkomen, maar een basklarinet. De twee knappe composities van Mark Cain die hierop aansluiten laten zich moeilijker definiëren. Horen we een Slavische melodie, flamenco, Joodse muziek, Balkan, jazz of nog iets anders? Het doet er uiteindelijk niet toe, dit is gewoon prachtige muziek, die zich heel toegankelijk laat degusteren. Verfrissend hoe organisch deze vijf muzikanten hun creaties tot leven brengen. Ze boetseren dan wel een nieuw kleurrijk geluid, als luisteraar had ik dit nauwelijks in de gaten. Is het omdat de dynamiek van melodie en ritme overal zo mooi intact blijft? De jazzy improvisaties worden in elk geval heel soepel binnengeloodst, waardoor nergens oeverloos gefreewheel om de hoek loert. In 'Galactica', een compositie van Michael Zolker, belanden ze in Indonesië en ter afronding zetten ze ‘Lamma Bada’, de Arabo-Andalusische klassieker, fijntjes naar hun hand.

De cd van Daramad is een uitgave van het Australische label Parenthèses Records, opgericht door de Belg Alexis Courtin. We lezen op hun website dat Daramad ondertussen uitgebreid werd met een klassiek geschoolde Iraanse zangeres. Dat belooft!
- Wereld Muziek Avonture

Dat er ook 'down under' in Australië boeiende wereldmuziek gemaakt wordt, wisten we al even. Vorig jaar passeerden Bombay Royale en The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra op deze blog. Vandaag stellen we je voor aan Daramad, een ensemble dat een beetje vanuit dezelfde filosofie tot stand kwam als Hijaz (België) of Arifa (Nederland). Ook hier ontmoeten uitstekende muzikanten met diverse muzikale achtergronden elkaar en wagen ze zich samen aan een avontuurlijke reis waarbij klassieke patronen uit het Midden-Oosten met jazzy toetsen gekruid worden. Bij Daramad fungeren ritmes en melodische thema's uit de klassieke Perzische muziek als een solide basis, groepsleden Reza Mirzaei (saz & gitaar) en Saeed Danesh (tonbak, daf & cajon) hebben immers hun roots in Iran. Philip Waldron (contrabas & tar), Michael Zolker (ud, tabla & riq) en Mark Cain (saxofoon, basklarinet, tarogato, hulusi, suling & rietorgel) zijn Australiërs die hun sporen verdienden in de jazz. Experimenteren met exotische instrumenten en zin voor improvisatie zijn hen niet vreemd. Vaak leiden dergelijke fusies, ondanks de goede bedoelingen en het spelplezier, tot een geforceerd resultaat.

Gelukkig geldt dit niet voor Daramad, getuige hun titelloze debuutalbum waarop acht oorstrelende pareltjes figureren. Opener 'Isfahan' is een compositie van Reza Mirzaei en klinkt zoals een klassiek Perzisch stuk met die subtiele nuance dat we in het herkenbare klanktapijt niet de obligate ney tegenkomen, maar een basklarinet. De twee knappe composities van Mark Cain die hierop aansluiten laten zich moeilijker definiëren. Horen we een Slavische melodie, flamenco, Joodse muziek, Balkan, jazz of nog iets anders? Het doet er uiteindelijk niet toe, dit is gewoon prachtige muziek, die zich heel toegankelijk laat degusteren. Verfrissend hoe organisch deze vijf muzikanten hun creaties tot leven brengen. Ze boetseren dan wel een nieuw kleurrijk geluid, als luisteraar had ik dit nauwelijks in de gaten. Is het omdat de dynamiek van melodie en ritme overal zo mooi intact blijft? De jazzy improvisaties worden in elk geval heel soepel binnengeloodst, waardoor nergens oeverloos gefreewheel om de hoek loert. In 'Galactica', een compositie van Michael Zolker, belanden ze in Indonesië en ter afronding zetten ze ‘Lamma Bada’, de Arabo-Andalusische klassieker, fijntjes naar hun hand.

De cd van Daramad is een uitgave van het Australische label Parenthèses Records, opgericht door de Belg Alexis Courtin. We lezen op hun website dat Daramad ondertussen uitgebreid werd met een klassiek geschoolde Iraanse zangeres. Dat belooft!
- Wereld Muziek Avonture

Fusing the sounds of the middle east with a strong improvisational jazz bent, Daramad sound like nothing and noone else. It’s difficult to imagine this music hailing from anywhere in particular, but with it’s fluid rhythms, sinewy melodies and exceptional musicianship it’s great that we can claim such an original musical creation as our own. - RTRFM 92.1 - Adam Trainer

Fusing the sounds of the middle east with a strong improvisational jazz bent, Daramad sound like nothing and noone else. It’s difficult to imagine this music hailing from anywhere in particular, but with it’s fluid rhythms, sinewy melodies and exceptional musicianship it’s great that we can claim such an original musical creation as our own. - RTRFM 92.1 - Adam Trainer

A shared background in classical Persian music informs the creations of Daramad, another superior WA-based instrumental sextet comprising three Iranian-born and three Australian-born players. In its excellent debut album, Prec04 – recorded over a single weekend – the band blends traditional Middle Eastern influences with the improvised energy of jazz. This it achieves with no small measure of sophistication, subtlety and skill on an interesting selection of instruments. While Daramad’s music is intricate and set to interesting time signatures, it’s by no means inaccessible. As the band’s own blurb aptly and eloquently indicates, the music is woven together like a Persian carpet of vibrant tonal colours and evolving motifs. The interaction between the plucked strings of oud and saz/baglama (lutes), reeds and some exotic percussion works on a visceral and intellectual level. The instruments combine most impressively in ‘Zornery’, with composer Mark Cain’s tenor and soprano saxophones creating mesmerising lead lines before the lutes lock in a passionate embrace and Philip Waldron chips in with a delightfully mellow solo double bass interlude. Reza Mirzaei’s saz/baglama introduces the self-composed ‘Dashti’ and later swaps figures with Michael Zolker’s oud and Cain’s bass clarinet in a well-arranged piece that also includes Saeed Danesh’s tombak (Persian hand drum). The percussionist’s skill on frame drums (daf and bendir) is evident on Cain’s processional dance ‘Tigris Eye’ and O.F.Tekbilek’s ‘Caspian Winds’, the latter featuring tárogató (a Turkish woodwind instrument) and one of only two non-original compositions on Prec04. Guitar and oud combine most effectively to set up ‘Lamma Bada’, a soulful traditional 8th century Arabic-Andalusian love song. Zolker’s ‘Galactica’ and Waldron’s ‘Magpie’ add to the album’s variety by injecting a bluesy inflection.. - Rhythms Music Magazine - Tony Hillier

A shared background in classical Persian music informs the creations of Daramad, another superior WA-based instrumental sextet comprising three Iranian-born and three Australian-born players. In its excellent debut album, Prec04 – recorded over a single weekend – the band blends traditional Middle Eastern influences with the improvised energy of jazz. This it achieves with no small measure of sophistication, subtlety and skill on an interesting selection of instruments. While Daramad’s music is intricate and set to interesting time signatures, it’s by no means inaccessible. As the band’s own blurb aptly and eloquently indicates, the music is woven together like a Persian carpet of vibrant tonal colours and evolving motifs. The interaction between the plucked strings of oud and saz/baglama (lutes), reeds and some exotic percussion works on a visceral and intellectual level. The instruments combine most impressively in ‘Zornery’, with composer Mark Cain’s tenor and soprano saxophones creating mesmerising lead lines before the lutes lock in a passionate embrace and Philip Waldron chips in with a delightfully mellow solo double bass interlude. Reza Mirzaei’s saz/baglama introduces the self-composed ‘Dashti’ and later swaps figures with Michael Zolker’s oud and Cain’s bass clarinet in a well-arranged piece that also includes Saeed Danesh’s tombak (Persian hand drum). The percussionist’s skill on frame drums (daf and bendir) is evident on Cain’s processional dance ‘Tigris Eye’ and O.F.Tekbilek’s ‘Caspian Winds’, the latter featuring tárogató (a Turkish woodwind instrument) and one of only two non-original compositions on Prec04. Guitar and oud combine most effectively to set up ‘Lamma Bada’, a soulful traditional 8th century Arabic-Andalusian love song. Zolker’s ‘Galactica’ and Waldron’s ‘Magpie’ add to the album’s variety by injecting a bluesy inflection.. - Rhythms Music Magazine - Tony Hillier

"One of the things I love about Daramad is their deceptive nature: simple sounding pieces are complex. A satisfying effect of Daramad is its hypnotic quality: the circling melodies andt (to Western ears anyway) exotic harmonies are entrancing and well worth revisiting. while no-one can doubt the professional and serious demeanour of the skill of playing, Daramad avoids that most fatal of sins in music - pretension - by the sly wink found in their playing... I hope Daramad tours Sydney. I'd love to see them live!" - Music Forum - Australian Council of Music

"One of the things I love about Daramad is their deceptive nature: simple sounding pieces are complex. A satisfying effect of Daramad is its hypnotic quality: the circling melodies andt (to Western ears anyway) exotic harmonies are entrancing and well worth revisiting. while no-one can doubt the professional and serious demeanour of the skill of playing, Daramad avoids that most fatal of sins in music - pretension - by the sly wink found in their playing... I hope Daramad tours Sydney. I'd love to see them live!" - Music Forum - Australian Council of Music

Changeons d’horizon. Allons écouter du jazz Australien. Oui, enfin, Australien, pas vraiment, même si les musiciens de Daramad vivent tous là-bas. Certains y sont nés, comme Mark Cain ou Philip Waldron, d’autres ont fait le voyage d’Iran, comme Reza Mirzaei.

Et puis, avec les saz, cajon, tabla, riq, oud, clarinette ou tombak, pour ne citer que quelques exemples, la musique est plutôt fortement marquée «Middle East».
Et s’il y a du jazz chez Daramad, c’est surtout dans l’esprit des improvisations. Parfois discrètes, souvent subtiles, toujours mélodiques. S’il y a du jazz, c’est aussi dans l’idée d’une ouverture aux mondes. S’il y a du jazz, c’est dans l’envie de retrouver des racines ancestrales pour les faire fleurir au présent. Alors, n’allez pas y chercher du bop ou même du swing, vous feriez fausse route. Mais restons zen. Après tout, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Anouar Brahem ou d’autres encore, ont trouvé leur place dans le jazz. Pourquoi pas Daramad ?
«Isfahan», qui ouvre l’album, est sans doute le morceau qui résume le mieux les idées du groupe. Le morceau rassemble les rythmes ondoyants et sensuels de la musique persane, des moments d’introspection et de solitude, mais aussi des évasions enthousiastes d’une musique improvisée et charmeuse. Ici, les différences,les dialogues et finalement les échanges se fondent avec beaucoup de naturel.
Daramad ne cède jamais à la facilité qui risquerait de faire de cette world-music un mélange grossier et banal. Il y a un certain respect de la musique traditionnelle.
Ainsi, «Magpie» brûle de sentiments forts. Les envolées lyriques de Mark Cain à la clarinette répondent aux attaques de Reza Mirzaei au saz et de Michael Zolker au oud, avant qu’un accord final, amorcé par un discours sobre et déterminé de Philip Waldron à la contrebasse, ne se trouve. Sur «Zornery» ou «Dashti», les improvisations au sax - façon jazz - sont beaucoup plus évidentes. Quant aux solos hypnotiques de Saeed Danesh, aux percus, ils font rapidement monter l’adrénaline.
Pourtant, le voyage est souvent calme et plein de délicatesse car Daramad prend son temps pour exposer les thèmes et soigner les motifs. Et c’est bien agréable.
A l'arrivée, le traditionnel arabo-andalou «Lamma Bada» (que les amateurs de Dead Can Dance et Lisa Gerrard doivent connaître) ferme en douceur et en méditation un album au charme envoûtant. Pourquoi ne pas tenter l’expérience ?
- http://jazzques.skynetblogs.be

Changeons d’horizon. Allons écouter du jazz Australien. Oui, enfin, Australien, pas vraiment, même si les musiciens de Daramad vivent tous là-bas. Certains y sont nés, comme Mark Cain ou Philip Waldron, d’autres ont fait le voyage d’Iran, comme Reza Mirzaei.

Et puis, avec les saz, cajon, tabla, riq, oud, clarinette ou tombak, pour ne citer que quelques exemples, la musique est plutôt fortement marquée «Middle East».
Et s’il y a du jazz chez Daramad, c’est surtout dans l’esprit des improvisations. Parfois discrètes, souvent subtiles, toujours mélodiques. S’il y a du jazz, c’est aussi dans l’idée d’une ouverture aux mondes. S’il y a du jazz, c’est dans l’envie de retrouver des racines ancestrales pour les faire fleurir au présent. Alors, n’allez pas y chercher du bop ou même du swing, vous feriez fausse route. Mais restons zen. Après tout, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Anouar Brahem ou d’autres encore, ont trouvé leur place dans le jazz. Pourquoi pas Daramad ?
«Isfahan», qui ouvre l’album, est sans doute le morceau qui résume le mieux les idées du groupe. Le morceau rassemble les rythmes ondoyants et sensuels de la musique persane, des moments d’introspection et de solitude, mais aussi des évasions enthousiastes d’une musique improvisée et charmeuse. Ici, les différences,les dialogues et finalement les échanges se fondent avec beaucoup de naturel.
Daramad ne cède jamais à la facilité qui risquerait de faire de cette world-music un mélange grossier et banal. Il y a un certain respect de la musique traditionnelle.
Ainsi, «Magpie» brûle de sentiments forts. Les envolées lyriques de Mark Cain à la clarinette répondent aux attaques de Reza Mirzaei au saz et de Michael Zolker au oud, avant qu’un accord final, amorcé par un discours sobre et déterminé de Philip Waldron à la contrebasse, ne se trouve. Sur «Zornery» ou «Dashti», les improvisations au sax - façon jazz - sont beaucoup plus évidentes. Quant aux solos hypnotiques de Saeed Danesh, aux percus, ils font rapidement monter l’adrénaline.
Pourtant, le voyage est souvent calme et plein de délicatesse car Daramad prend son temps pour exposer les thèmes et soigner les motifs. Et c’est bien agréable.
A l'arrivée, le traditionnel arabo-andalou «Lamma Bada» (que les amateurs de Dead Can Dance et Lisa Gerrard doivent connaître) ferme en douceur et en méditation un album au charme envoûtant. Pourquoi ne pas tenter l’expérience ?
- http://jazzques.skynetblogs.be

Perth based Daramad have an authentic Middle Eastern sound thanks to their two lutes, the Turkish baglama and the oud. The jazz flavour comes in the form of saxophone, bass clarinet and double bass. Daramad is a traditional Persian term for the process of emergence. ‘World Jazz’ by nature brings with it glorious opportunities to explore new and exciting rhythms and this disc is no exception. The band brings together Australian and Iranian artists lead by saxophonist Mark Cain whose growling tenor tone is reminiscent of David Murray and his unison lines with the zithering lutes define the signature Daramad sound. Cain is known for his bold, innovative, quirky and challenging projects such as AC/PVC, an ensemble performing musical inventions made from poly pipe. The modulated nature of these authentic originals and traditional tunes can be entrancing even mesmerising perhaps tending to repetitious for some. The group dynamics and improvisations in that rich Middle Eastern context, colour this authentic fusion, rewarding the close listener with jubilant exoticism. - Jazz & Beyond - By Peter Wockner

Perth based Daramad have an authentic Middle Eastern sound thanks to their two lutes, the Turkish baglama and the oud. The jazz flavour comes in the form of saxophone, bass clarinet and double bass. Daramad is a traditional Persian term for the process of emergence. ‘World Jazz’ by nature brings with it glorious opportunities to explore new and exciting rhythms and this disc is no exception. The band brings together Australian and Iranian artists lead by saxophonist Mark Cain whose growling tenor tone is reminiscent of David Murray and his unison lines with the zithering lutes define the signature Daramad sound. Cain is known for his bold, innovative, quirky and challenging projects such as AC/PVC, an ensemble performing musical inventions made from poly pipe. The modulated nature of these authentic originals and traditional tunes can be entrancing even mesmerising perhaps tending to repetitious for some. The group dynamics and improvisations in that rich Middle Eastern context, colour this authentic fusion, rewarding the close listener with jubilant exoticism. - Jazz & Beyond - By Peter Wockner

...and earning the mantle of, 'Almost, but not quite single of the week' is this profound piece of witchcraft from local jazz-improv ensemble with strong Arabic associations Daramad. The title track has already earned kudos featuring on the Jazzaziz compilation, but it's the flip-side Zornery that takes the royal biscuit. Working around a veritable snakepit of stealthy Middle Eastern rhythms, it operates like some kind of deadly tango noir as various guitar-like instruments encircle one another in a fevered embrace. Hunters for something a bit different will no doubt be salivating with anticipation for the upcoming album launch. - Drum Media - Christopher James

...and earning the mantle of, 'Almost, but not quite single of the week' is this profound piece of witchcraft from local jazz-improv ensemble with strong Arabic associations Daramad. The title track has already earned kudos featuring on the Jazzaziz compilation, but it's the flip-side Zornery that takes the royal biscuit. Working around a veritable snakepit of stealthy Middle Eastern rhythms, it operates like some kind of deadly tango noir as various guitar-like instruments encircle one another in a fevered embrace. Hunters for something a bit different will no doubt be salivating with anticipation for the upcoming album launch. - Drum Media - Christopher James

Cafeterias aglow, bars percolating with cheers and laughs, street-wanderers with smiling eyes. There are cycle rickshaws suddenly populating the streets, offering fewer emissions but a lot more whimsy. Right now I feel like I don’t make the journey to Fremantle often enough; and it’s hardly an arduous journey. You can get on a train and close your eyes and emerge, like Dorothy in Oz, at the ceramic-swan-festooned Fremantle Station. And so here I am. A stairwell tucked between two cafés beckons.
Kulcha floats above the street; from the balcony you can peer over neighbouring tin rooftops and antique façades. Sounds of buskers and cavorters, scents of pizza, coffee, ale and harbour breeze, rise to your senses. Inside, the darkened room is bulging with bodies – largely bodies that are over forty years old, but sprightly, enlivened bodies anyhow. I’m not sure if the lion’s share of this crowd comprises friends of the band, or if it just feels that way (Fremantle is a friendly place). Either way, the vibe upon entering is more akin to a politely buzzing house party than a ritualized concert. When members of middle-eastern inspired folk/jazz group DARAMAD mount the stage, they emerge not from a behind-the-scenes hidey hole but from the crowd itself, where they’ve been clinking drinks and sharing chuckles. This says nothing about their music, but it sets the tone for the evening nicely.
DARAMAD, as it happens, is a word that actually means something like “emerge” in Persian classical music terminology; it’s fitting that they’re launching their debut record at Kulcha (the space in which their first freeform jams were born) making for a club sandwich of emerge-y goodness. The ensemble features Mark Cain on woodwind, Michael Zolker on oud and percussion, Reza Mirzaei on saz and guitar; Saeed Danesh on full-time percussion duties, Kate Pass on double bass and (in a new addition to the group), Tara Tiba on vocals. After a little bit of housekeeping, the tunes begin, and a hush falls over the rest of the room.
These are rich, hot textures; the stringy, percussive, almost throaty thrum of the oud and the baglama/saz underpinning warm melodic warblings from Cain’s woodwind – he has quite an inventory, including saxophones, exotic reed instruments and ethereal flutes. Deep down, there is the guttural woody pluck, thud and bellow of the double bass, and the tastefully reticent – yet subtly spectacular – rhythms of the percussion. It amounts to a fairly dense and joyous whole, a whole which sounds pretty authentically Middle-Eastern to the untrained ear (that is to say, my ear), but the traditional textures soon find somewhat atypical applications.
The pieces feature strong, modal melodies, not unusual in the traditional folk context. But instead of simply recapitulating themselves from go to woah, these tunes form “heads” in the jazz sense, melodic centrepieces around which extended improvised and textural sections can orbit. Band members take turns exploring the soloistic capabilities of each instrument, before everything coalesces back into an all-in, rustic momentum.
Every player is great, brimming with not only skill but clear excitement and long-standing passion for Persian music and the tools of the trade (though Chinese and Indonesian instruments find their way into the mix, too). “Isfahan” exemplifies jazz and Middle Eastern music’s shared penchant for syncopation and shifting time signatures; “Caspian Winds” is a highlight with its call-and-response melodies and almost industrial percussion. Then there are the extended, more navel-gazey and nebulous jams (like “Galactica”) that owe debts to Miles Davis and Charles Mingus.
Yet for all the instrumental excellence, it’s hard to imagine the band without a singer after hearing Tara Tiba. The Iranian-born vocalist arrives on stage and tells us, the audience, that though she has been honing her singing for 12 years or more – it is her life’s passion – for her to sing publicly would be condemned in her homeland. Women are simply forbidden to do so. Thus, she tells us, “this is a dream come true.” The room erupts with applause; undoubtedly a few eyes are moistened. And she hasn’t even sung a note. When she does, the applause that follows is just as tremendous: Tiba’s voice is rich, nuanced and delivered with deft sensitivity to the rest of the band’s inflections and dynamics. Though I can’t understand her linguistically, there’s a sense of gravity to every note, a feeling of meaning as you might encounter in a cello concerto or glacial piano melody.
From the languid to the contemplative to the dancey and downright exuberant, Daramad traverse moods and cultural influences with an almost confounding cohesion. What makes them so convincing is how seamlessly they fuse their Persian and Jazz influences, to a point where it feels unlike a “fusion” at all, instead something singular and special. You might like them for the musicianship, for the intriguing conceptua - Cool Perth Nights

Cafeterias aglow, bars percolating with cheers and laughs, street-wanderers with smiling eyes. There are cycle rickshaws suddenly populating the streets, offering fewer emissions but a lot more whimsy. Right now I feel like I don’t make the journey to Fremantle often enough; and it’s hardly an arduous journey. You can get on a train and close your eyes and emerge, like Dorothy in Oz, at the ceramic-swan-festooned Fremantle Station. And so here I am. A stairwell tucked between two cafés beckons.
Kulcha floats above the street; from the balcony you can peer over neighbouring tin rooftops and antique façades. Sounds of buskers and cavorters, scents of pizza, coffee, ale and harbour breeze, rise to your senses. Inside, the darkened room is bulging with bodies – largely bodies that are over forty years old, but sprightly, enlivened bodies anyhow. I’m not sure if the lion’s share of this crowd comprises friends of the band, or if it just feels that way (Fremantle is a friendly place). Either way, the vibe upon entering is more akin to a politely buzzing house party than a ritualized concert. When members of middle-eastern inspired folk/jazz group DARAMAD mount the stage, they emerge not from a behind-the-scenes hidey hole but from the crowd itself, where they’ve been clinking drinks and sharing chuckles. This says nothing about their music, but it sets the tone for the evening nicely.
DARAMAD, as it happens, is a word that actually means something like “emerge” in Persian classical music terminology; it’s fitting that they’re launching their debut record at Kulcha (the space in which their first freeform jams were born) making for a club sandwich of emerge-y goodness. The ensemble features Mark Cain on woodwind, Michael Zolker on oud and percussion, Reza Mirzaei on saz and guitar; Saeed Danesh on full-time percussion duties, Kate Pass on double bass and (in a new addition to the group), Tara Tiba on vocals. After a little bit of housekeeping, the tunes begin, and a hush falls over the rest of the room.
These are rich, hot textures; the stringy, percussive, almost throaty thrum of the oud and the baglama/saz underpinning warm melodic warblings from Cain’s woodwind – he has quite an inventory, including saxophones, exotic reed instruments and ethereal flutes. Deep down, there is the guttural woody pluck, thud and bellow of the double bass, and the tastefully reticent – yet subtly spectacular – rhythms of the percussion. It amounts to a fairly dense and joyous whole, a whole which sounds pretty authentically Middle-Eastern to the untrained ear (that is to say, my ear), but the traditional textures soon find somewhat atypical applications.
The pieces feature strong, modal melodies, not unusual in the traditional folk context. But instead of simply recapitulating themselves from go to woah, these tunes form “heads” in the jazz sense, melodic centrepieces around which extended improvised and textural sections can orbit. Band members take turns exploring the soloistic capabilities of each instrument, before everything coalesces back into an all-in, rustic momentum.
Every player is great, brimming with not only skill but clear excitement and long-standing passion for Persian music and the tools of the trade (though Chinese and Indonesian instruments find their way into the mix, too). “Isfahan” exemplifies jazz and Middle Eastern music’s shared penchant for syncopation and shifting time signatures; “Caspian Winds” is a highlight with its call-and-response melodies and almost industrial percussion. Then there are the extended, more navel-gazey and nebulous jams (like “Galactica”) that owe debts to Miles Davis and Charles Mingus.
Yet for all the instrumental excellence, it’s hard to imagine the band without a singer after hearing Tara Tiba. The Iranian-born vocalist arrives on stage and tells us, the audience, that though she has been honing her singing for 12 years or more – it is her life’s passion – for her to sing publicly would be condemned in her homeland. Women are simply forbidden to do so. Thus, she tells us, “this is a dream come true.” The room erupts with applause; undoubtedly a few eyes are moistened. And she hasn’t even sung a note. When she does, the applause that follows is just as tremendous: Tiba’s voice is rich, nuanced and delivered with deft sensitivity to the rest of the band’s inflections and dynamics. Though I can’t understand her linguistically, there’s a sense of gravity to every note, a feeling of meaning as you might encounter in a cello concerto or glacial piano melody.
From the languid to the contemplative to the dancey and downright exuberant, Daramad traverse moods and cultural influences with an almost confounding cohesion. What makes them so convincing is how seamlessly they fuse their Persian and Jazz influences, to a point where it feels unlike a “fusion” at all, instead something singular and special. You might like them for the musicianship, for the intriguing conceptua - Cool Perth Nights

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
(Rumi from The Guest House)
In the Persian classical music tradition ‘Daramad’ refers to the process of beginning, appearing or emerging. So Daramad has arrived, the new CD release from Alex Courtin’s Parenthèses Records which ably exemplifies this label’s aim: to make music that sits at the cross roads between tradition and continuum. In this case the crossroads are those of Middle Eastern music and improvised jazz.
~
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.
Rumi from A Community Of The Spirit
On this CD are five participants, each a multi-instrumentalist. Collectively they play at least seventeen instruments: saz and guitar (Reza Mirzaei); oud, tabla and riq (Michael Zolker); double bass and tar (Phillip Waldron); soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, tárogató, hulusi, suling and bottle reedpipe (Mark Cain); and tombak, daf and cajón (Saeed Danesh). The arrangement of the five performers’ names on the back cover of the CD reinforces the sense of innovation within tradition: bookending the list are the classically trained Iranian musicians, Reza Mirzaei (above) and Saeed Danesh (below). Pictured are four of these five musicians: Michael Zolker cradling an oud, Mark Cain carrying a clarinet, Reza Mirzaei holding a saz, and Saeed Danesh, handling a daf. The fifth contributor, Philip Waldron, was not available at the time of the photo shoot but on the album back cover notes he is especially credited for his fine musicianship, both on the album and during his tenure with Daramad.
~
So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
Rumi from Where Everything Is Music
Implicit in the word ‘tenure’ (from tenire, to hold) is the possibility of letting go, of transience. Fittingly Daramad, as suggested by Reza Mirzaei’s front cover logo—a calligraphy of fire etched onto its own shimmering afterimages—is a somewhat fluid incarnation: since the time of the recording Philip has departed and Daramad has now morphed into a sextet with Tara Tiba on vocals and Kate Pass on double bass.
~
Your hidden self is blood in those, those veins
that are lute strings that make ocean music,
not the sad edge of surf, but the sound of no shore.
Rumi from The Diver’s Clothes Lying Empty

Oud, saz, tar: these three-letter strings spell the names of the stringed instruments that, along with the more familiar double bass and guitar, are featured on this album. Oud and saz are varieties of lute. Typically played with a wooden plectrum, the pear-shaped oud has the shorter neck and is fretless; the saz, also known as the baglama, has a brighter, more sitar-like, sound. The tar, a long-necked and waisted instrument, seems to have bequeathed its name to sitar and guitar.
~
Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb, my heart. Rumi
Tabla, riq, tombak, daf and cajón are the percussion array; their names beat an alternation of syllables: two, one, two, one, two. The tabla is likely already familiar. The rik was born from the daf and is a wooden frame-drum with jingles—thus, it is a type of tambourine. The tombak is the single-headed goblet drum of Persia, the principal and oldest percussion instrument of Persian music. The daf is a large frame-drum, generally without jingles, usually used as an accompaniment either to vocal or instrumental forces. (And deft on the daf drums Danesh!) The cajón, a box-drum, embodies the spirit of jazz improvisation in its 18th century Afro-Peruvian origins: one tale has it that this instrument was created by the Spaniards’ Peruvian slaves from crates in which cod had been stored; another version (less fishy but just as likely) holds that cajón were African percussion instruments disguised as seats or stools in response to the Spanish ban on their slaves’ music.
~

All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade. Rumi
Aside from the more familiar saxophones and clarinet, Daramad features other reed instruments. The tárogató is a Hungarian 19th century reed instrument that looks like a wooden soprano saxophone. This somewhat mournful-sounding instrument is actually Persian in origin, though it has been significantly modified. The names hulusi and suling suggest respectively their Chinese and Indonesian origins. A Chinese bamboo-and-gourd free-reed instrument, the hulusi has a descriptive name: Hulu is ‘gourd’ and si, referring to the pure quality of the sound, is ‘silk’. The suling is the bamboo flute of the Indonesian gamelan ensemble. The bottle reedpipe used on Daramad emerges as Mark Cain’s own invention, constructed from a plastic drink bottle and a length of pvc conduit, with a small plastic reed attached.
~
Every moment and place says,
“Put this design in your carpet!”
Rumi from Put This Design In Your Carpet
Daramad proffer a key t - Australian Jazz.Net

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
(Rumi from The Guest House)
In the Persian classical music tradition ‘Daramad’ refers to the process of beginning, appearing or emerging. So Daramad has arrived, the new CD release from Alex Courtin’s Parenthèses Records which ably exemplifies this label’s aim: to make music that sits at the cross roads between tradition and continuum. In this case the crossroads are those of Middle Eastern music and improvised jazz.
~
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.
Rumi from A Community Of The Spirit
On this CD are five participants, each a multi-instrumentalist. Collectively they play at least seventeen instruments: saz and guitar (Reza Mirzaei); oud, tabla and riq (Michael Zolker); double bass and tar (Phillip Waldron); soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, tárogató, hulusi, suling and bottle reedpipe (Mark Cain); and tombak, daf and cajón (Saeed Danesh). The arrangement of the five performers’ names on the back cover of the CD reinforces the sense of innovation within tradition: bookending the list are the classically trained Iranian musicians, Reza Mirzaei (above) and Saeed Danesh (below). Pictured are four of these five musicians: Michael Zolker cradling an oud, Mark Cain carrying a clarinet, Reza Mirzaei holding a saz, and Saeed Danesh, handling a daf. The fifth contributor, Philip Waldron, was not available at the time of the photo shoot but on the album back cover notes he is especially credited for his fine musicianship, both on the album and during his tenure with Daramad.
~
So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
Rumi from Where Everything Is Music
Implicit in the word ‘tenure’ (from tenire, to hold) is the possibility of letting go, of transience. Fittingly Daramad, as suggested by Reza Mirzaei’s front cover logo—a calligraphy of fire etched onto its own shimmering afterimages—is a somewhat fluid incarnation: since the time of the recording Philip has departed and Daramad has now morphed into a sextet with Tara Tiba on vocals and Kate Pass on double bass.
~
Your hidden self is blood in those, those veins
that are lute strings that make ocean music,
not the sad edge of surf, but the sound of no shore.
Rumi from The Diver’s Clothes Lying Empty

Oud, saz, tar: these three-letter strings spell the names of the stringed instruments that, along with the more familiar double bass and guitar, are featured on this album. Oud and saz are varieties of lute. Typically played with a wooden plectrum, the pear-shaped oud has the shorter neck and is fretless; the saz, also known as the baglama, has a brighter, more sitar-like, sound. The tar, a long-necked and waisted instrument, seems to have bequeathed its name to sitar and guitar.
~
Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb, my heart. Rumi
Tabla, riq, tombak, daf and cajón are the percussion array; their names beat an alternation of syllables: two, one, two, one, two. The tabla is likely already familiar. The rik was born from the daf and is a wooden frame-drum with jingles—thus, it is a type of tambourine. The tombak is the single-headed goblet drum of Persia, the principal and oldest percussion instrument of Persian music. The daf is a large frame-drum, generally without jingles, usually used as an accompaniment either to vocal or instrumental forces. (And deft on the daf drums Danesh!) The cajón, a box-drum, embodies the spirit of jazz improvisation in its 18th century Afro-Peruvian origins: one tale has it that this instrument was created by the Spaniards’ Peruvian slaves from crates in which cod had been stored; another version (less fishy but just as likely) holds that cajón were African percussion instruments disguised as seats or stools in response to the Spanish ban on their slaves’ music.
~

All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade. Rumi
Aside from the more familiar saxophones and clarinet, Daramad features other reed instruments. The tárogató is a Hungarian 19th century reed instrument that looks like a wooden soprano saxophone. This somewhat mournful-sounding instrument is actually Persian in origin, though it has been significantly modified. The names hulusi and suling suggest respectively their Chinese and Indonesian origins. A Chinese bamboo-and-gourd free-reed instrument, the hulusi has a descriptive name: Hulu is ‘gourd’ and si, referring to the pure quality of the sound, is ‘silk’. The suling is the bamboo flute of the Indonesian gamelan ensemble. The bottle reedpipe used on Daramad emerges as Mark Cain’s own invention, constructed from a plastic drink bottle and a length of pvc conduit, with a small plastic reed attached.
~
Every moment and place says,
“Put this design in your carpet!”
Rumi from Put This Design In Your Carpet
Daramad proffer a key t - Australian Jazz.Net

Daramad Interview by Coral Huckstep ahead of their performance at the Art Gallery of Western Australia as part of the Picasso to Warhol exhibition.
On Friday 26 October, AGWA audiences will be treated to a night of Eastern improvised jazz from local band Daramad. I chatted to band member and supremely talented multi-instrumentalist, music lecturer and instrument maker, Mark Cain to hear a bit more about Daramad’s enchanting music. Cain performs in a number of ensembles aside from Daramad, and is currently engaged in developing music education at a Perth primary school. To find out more about Daramad’s gig at AGWA, see our What’s On page. For now, here’s your brief introduction to Mark Cain:
Your music is very diverse. What music did you grow up listening to?
I didn’t come from a musical dynasty. For some reason I got into listening to unusual music, probably through peers. I liked The Beatles and bands like that but I was listening to unusual stuff from a very early age. A couple of friends at school were listening to interesting things when I was about 15 or 16 and then I started going to 78 Records, the major record shop in Perth for years. I used to go there when I was a student to buy blues and jazz and European experimental rock. A while back I worked on 720 ABC Perth as a producer. In the late 70s and early 80s I worked at radio 6NR, so I was listening to music a lot there.
Do you still frequent record shops as much?
I am a vinyl junkie! I certainly haven’t lost that but I’ve lost some of the budget! But I’ve never lost that passion for hearing new things.
Do you still work at radio stations?
I do a little bit…occasionally I contribute to a show on 100fm in Fremantle.
You’ve played in Nova Ensemble, and are still a band member in Ozmosis and Club Qahira. What makes Daramad different to these ensembles?
I’ve played in music bands and arenas for a lot of my musical life, but I think the core difference with Daramad is we have three Persian musicians. The music we’re creating is not entirely Persian, we’re playing a crossover with Eastern jazz, Arabic

and Eastern influences. But having those three members does give an authenticity to the music, which is hard to do if you’re not actually from that culture. It really comes from musicians who have lived and played music in that culture. And so while we’re not purely a traditional band, we do draw on those conventions.
Picasso to Warhol features a few artists who painted through the 20s and 30s and had strong ties with the jazz music from that time. Are you influenced by jazz musicians of this era?
Yes, absolutely. I don’t feel like I have ever tried to play like members of Duke Ellington’s orchestra or anything like that but I think by osmosis, if you listen to lots of different types of music, it all affects you in an important way and particularly if it’s music you love. I love some of the reed players of that era and I love the arrangements that bands could play so much and form big ensembles together – something that is much, much harder to do today. I love the music of that era. Every tradition in jazz has its own character. When I think of jazz from the 20s and 30s, I think of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and Count Basie because they’re the defining figures of jazz. So if you love jazz then you listen to those players and style. You get them in your head … if not under your fingers.
I understand you’re an artist-in-residence at the moment. Tell me about what this entails…
I’m at Belmay Primary School in Belmont, and it’s endorsed by Musica Viva, Australia Council and the Department of Culture and the Arts. I was working in the first term with students from years 1-7, doing a lot of educational development work about sound, and development of sound, about how kids might understand musical instruments and how instruments can be made and created for a program.
Did this involve making any of your instruments with the kids?
We didn’t build musical instruments at the beginning. I did a lot of sound discovery, doing musical soundscapes, exploring rhythms and textures of sounds, and working with the kids in understanding more about sound. Then we started to explore how a sound garden works. I showed the students what you might find in a sound playground and each student had a student sound journal and they kept notes, drew pictures, and jotted down everything that captured their imaginations. Some of these drawings were very abstract! Then happened is the other artist in residence, Calvin Chee, who is a visual artist, worked with me on the construction side. We didn’t build the instruments – Calvin worked with the manual art students at Belmont City College to construct them. The high school kids worked with the primary school kids to develop some miniature sculptures of their drawings from their sound journals. So, it’s not just about us artists, the nature of the project is that the inspiration comes from the students.






- The Art Gallery of Western Australia

Daramad Interview by Coral Huckstep ahead of their performance at the Art Gallery of Western Australia as part of the Picasso to Warhol exhibition.
On Friday 26 October, AGWA audiences will be treated to a night of Eastern improvised jazz from local band Daramad. I chatted to band member and supremely talented multi-instrumentalist, music lecturer and instrument maker, Mark Cain to hear a bit more about Daramad’s enchanting music. Cain performs in a number of ensembles aside from Daramad, and is currently engaged in developing music education at a Perth primary school. To find out more about Daramad’s gig at AGWA, see our What’s On page. For now, here’s your brief introduction to Mark Cain:
Your music is very diverse. What music did you grow up listening to?
I didn’t come from a musical dynasty. For some reason I got into listening to unusual music, probably through peers. I liked The Beatles and bands like that but I was listening to unusual stuff from a very early age. A couple of friends at school were listening to interesting things when I was about 15 or 16 and then I started going to 78 Records, the major record shop in Perth for years. I used to go there when I was a student to buy blues and jazz and European experimental rock. A while back I worked on 720 ABC Perth as a producer. In the late 70s and early 80s I worked at radio 6NR, so I was listening to music a lot there.
Do you still frequent record shops as much?
I am a vinyl junkie! I certainly haven’t lost that but I’ve lost some of the budget! But I’ve never lost that passion for hearing new things.
Do you still work at radio stations?
I do a little bit…occasionally I contribute to a show on 100fm in Fremantle.
You’ve played in Nova Ensemble, and are still a band member in Ozmosis and Club Qahira. What makes Daramad different to these ensembles?
I’ve played in music bands and arenas for a lot of my musical life, but I think the core difference with Daramad is we have three Persian musicians. The music we’re creating is not entirely Persian, we’re playing a crossover with Eastern jazz, Arabic

and Eastern influences. But having those three members does give an authenticity to the music, which is hard to do if you’re not actually from that culture. It really comes from musicians who have lived and played music in that culture. And so while we’re not purely a traditional band, we do draw on those conventions.
Picasso to Warhol features a few artists who painted through the 20s and 30s and had strong ties with the jazz music from that time. Are you influenced by jazz musicians of this era?
Yes, absolutely. I don’t feel like I have ever tried to play like members of Duke Ellington’s orchestra or anything like that but I think by osmosis, if you listen to lots of different types of music, it all affects you in an important way and particularly if it’s music you love. I love some of the reed players of that era and I love the arrangements that bands could play so much and form big ensembles together – something that is much, much harder to do today. I love the music of that era. Every tradition in jazz has its own character. When I think of jazz from the 20s and 30s, I think of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington and Count Basie because they’re the defining figures of jazz. So if you love jazz then you listen to those players and style. You get them in your head … if not under your fingers.
I understand you’re an artist-in-residence at the moment. Tell me about what this entails…
I’m at Belmay Primary School in Belmont, and it’s endorsed by Musica Viva, Australia Council and the Department of Culture and the Arts. I was working in the first term with students from years 1-7, doing a lot of educational development work about sound, and development of sound, about how kids might understand musical instruments and how instruments can be made and created for a program.
Did this involve making any of your instruments with the kids?
We didn’t build musical instruments at the beginning. I did a lot of sound discovery, doing musical soundscapes, exploring rhythms and textures of sounds, and working with the kids in understanding more about sound. Then we started to explore how a sound garden works. I showed the students what you might find in a sound playground and each student had a student sound journal and they kept notes, drew pictures, and jotted down everything that captured their imaginations. Some of these drawings were very abstract! Then happened is the other artist in residence, Calvin Chee, who is a visual artist, worked with me on the construction side. We didn’t build the instruments – Calvin worked with the manual art students at Belmont City College to construct them. The high school kids worked with the primary school kids to develop some miniature sculptures of their drawings from their sound journals. So, it’s not just about us artists, the nature of the project is that the inspiration comes from the students.






- The Art Gallery of Western Australia

A key term in Persian classical/erudite music, ‘daramad’ refers to the process of beginning, appearing, or emerging. Our Daramad accidentally began to emerge in Fremantle in 2009 and is now a sextet, with three Australian-born and three Iranian-born members. Mostly, but not exclusively self-penned, their music marries meticulous composition with improvisatory conversation, as ‘Daramad explores the confluence between the music of the Middle East and improvised jazz.’ The result is distinctive, beautiful, nicely varied. It crucially involves two very different kinds of lute, various hand drums and many different winds and reeds.

Doug Spenser said about:

CD CUT 1, ‘ISFAHAN’: impressionistic, haunting, eclectic instrumental piece, with a predominantly Persian accent. Its primary soloists are its Iranian-born author on baglama (aka ‘saz’ – a very long-necked, wire strung lute), Michael Zolker on oud and Mark Cain on bass clarinet. Mark plays various reeds; Michael plays some of the percussion, too. Saeed Danesh is the primary percussionist. Phil Waldron is double bassist. (Phil has since left the group, in which Kate Pass now plays double bass. Daramad also has another ‘post-the-recording’ member in vocalist Tara Tiba).


CD CUT 3, ‘TIGRIS EYE’: a beguiling, unrushed ‘processional’ dance, in which middle eastern and jazz elements comfortably co-exist. Its composer plays reeds and winds, with Reza Mirzaei’s baglama (aka ‘saz’ – a very long-necked, wire strung lute), Michael Zolker’s oud (fretless, Arabic lute), Philip Waldron’s double bass, plus hand-percussion from Michael and Saeed Danesh. Saeed is a very skilled player of daf (large frame drum, with metal ‘bangles’ within its rim), bendir (frame drum, with no bangles/jingles/cymbals) and tombak, The tombak (aka ‘zarb) is a goblet-shaped hand drum - the primary drum in Persian classical/erudite music..


CD CUT 5, ‘DASHTI’: introduced by the baglama (aka ‘saz – a long-necked wired strung lute) of its Iranian-raised composer, this piece has an ‘epic’ quality, is meticulously constructed, but includes improvisatory flights/conversation. The

group’s other Iranian-born instrumentalist is the percussion soloist, on tombak – the goblet-shaped Persian hand drum. Mark Cain’s tenor sax is also featured. Michael Zolker plays oud and some percussion. Philip Waldron plays double bass.
Occasionally, however, other duduks dance forward, interjecting-responding as if a riffing ‘horn section.’

CD CUT 8, ‘LAMMA BADA’: instrumental exploration of a very old, haunting, Arabic--Andalusian love song/poem. (some sources say circa 8th century, others circa 12th century CE). In English it could be called When She Begins To Sway.
This is introduced by a duo of Reza Mirzaei’s classical guitar and Michael Zolker’s oud. Mark Cain is the reed soloist (I think, on tarogato, then tenor sax). Philip Waldron plays double bass and Saeed Danesh is hand-drummer, playing frame drums and tombak.

- ABC Radio National

A key term in Persian classical/erudite music, ‘daramad’ refers to the process of beginning, appearing, or emerging. Our Daramad accidentally began to emerge in Fremantle in 2009 and is now a sextet, with three Australian-born and three Iranian-born members. Mostly, but not exclusively self-penned, their music marries meticulous composition with improvisatory conversation, as ‘Daramad explores the confluence between the music of the Middle East and improvised jazz.’ The result is distinctive, beautiful, nicely varied. It crucially involves two very different kinds of lute, various hand drums and many different winds and reeds.

Doug Spenser said about:

CD CUT 1, ‘ISFAHAN’: impressionistic, haunting, eclectic instrumental piece, with a predominantly Persian accent. Its primary soloists are its Iranian-born author on baglama (aka ‘saz’ – a very long-necked, wire strung lute), Michael Zolker on oud and Mark Cain on bass clarinet. Mark plays various reeds; Michael plays some of the percussion, too. Saeed Danesh is the primary percussionist. Phil Waldron is double bassist. (Phil has since left the group, in which Kate Pass now plays double bass. Daramad also has another ‘post-the-recording’ member in vocalist Tara Tiba).


CD CUT 3, ‘TIGRIS EYE’: a beguiling, unrushed ‘processional’ dance, in which middle eastern and jazz elements comfortably co-exist. Its composer plays reeds and winds, with Reza Mirzaei’s baglama (aka ‘saz’ – a very long-necked, wire strung lute), Michael Zolker’s oud (fretless, Arabic lute), Philip Waldron’s double bass, plus hand-percussion from Michael and Saeed Danesh. Saeed is a very skilled player of daf (large frame drum, with metal ‘bangles’ within its rim), bendir (frame drum, with no bangles/jingles/cymbals) and tombak, The tombak (aka ‘zarb) is a goblet-shaped hand drum - the primary drum in Persian classical/erudite music..


CD CUT 5, ‘DASHTI’: introduced by the baglama (aka ‘saz – a long-necked wired strung lute) of its Iranian-raised composer, this piece has an ‘epic’ quality, is meticulously constructed, but includes improvisatory flights/conversation. The

group’s other Iranian-born instrumentalist is the percussion soloist, on tombak – the goblet-shaped Persian hand drum. Mark Cain’s tenor sax is also featured. Michael Zolker plays oud and some percussion. Philip Waldron plays double bass.
Occasionally, however, other duduks dance forward, interjecting-responding as if a riffing ‘horn section.’

CD CUT 8, ‘LAMMA BADA’: instrumental exploration of a very old, haunting, Arabic--Andalusian love song/poem. (some sources say circa 8th century, others circa 12th century CE). In English it could be called When She Begins To Sway.
This is introduced by a duo of Reza Mirzaei’s classical guitar and Michael Zolker’s oud. Mark Cain is the reed soloist (I think, on tarogato, then tenor sax). Philip Waldron plays double bass and Saeed Danesh is hand-drummer, playing frame drums and tombak.

- ABC Radio National