The musician is a tool...

 

Davod Azad
Nabil Yousof Sharidavi
Give Wine Unto Those That Be Of Mystics

2013

Tracks:

01 - Unless you come
02 - O'epherma
03 - Avaz-e Bayat Turk
04 - What is beyond Adoration?
05 - You are all in my Essence
06 - O' Eternity Realm
07 - Avaz-e Afshari
08 - Ecstatic
09 - Salute to Saints salute to Ecstatics
10 - Avaz-e Homayoun
11 - Be aware

Musicians:

Davoud Azad, 
Javid Ebrahimpour, 
Amin Heydari, 
Nabil Yousef, 
Ghazi Aska.

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 His official website [http://www.Davoodazad.com/en] tells us that his “music speaks the universal language of Love and Unity for all mankind.”

 

Davod Azad is a prominent master of Iranian music who is based in Tehran , Iran . A vocalist , composer & instrumental musician, he is a virtuoso in playing Tar, Setar, Tanbour, Oud, Daf & Robab. Davod was born in Orumieh , Iran in 1963. He began playing music at the age of 19 & began performing & teaching at 21 . His first CD was released when was 25 years old & this CD called "Maktab e Tar e Tabriz" became a classic & a standard for Tar playing.

His musical source is the classical Iranian model system ( Dastgah ) & the Tradition (regional ) Maqam musical form . He is  admired for his unique singing style , which integrates classical & modern spiritual elements, and for his improvisation , which brings a contemporary sensibility to a traditional musical format. For the last 30 years Davod has performed in sufi gatherings around the world , and his compositions to the poems of Rumi are known for their healing & uplifting effect.

Few musicians form Iran have traveled & played before such diverse audiences as Davod. he has performed extensively over the last two decades in Europe,North America the Caribbean,Australia, India,Japan & recently in Bhutan,as well as throughout Iran whit over 300 performances worldwide .He has performed at international festivals ,including the Istanbul international Music festival ,BBc Proms ,Music village (Sacred Voices ) ,Sir John Taverners festival ,the folk festival of Hungary , World in Nord festival in Norway ,Art In Action festival in Oxford England , The Edinburg Spiritual festival Scotland and the institute de Monde Arabe festival in France . Davod is the first Iranian lecturer invited to Oxford University to lecture about Iranian music & its forms. His " The Divan of Rumi & Bach " albums is the first Iranian fusion with Western classical music. The music was performed at many international venues & was played on many Radio stations in Europe Kulture House in Vienna Austria . Davod has also performed for BBC television & for TV network in India & Bhutan.

Davod adds his contemporary vision to the classic Persian musical format to spread a message of human unity. Harmony & peace among nations. His music is universal & appeals people of all religions & backgrounds. 

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Ancient Sufi love poems inspire these sacred Islamic sounds

Bruce Elder writes:
   
Davod Azad is a physically striking person and a remarkable musician.

In live performance he sits on beautiful Persian carpets accompanied by Shahram Gholami (oud) and Pezhham Akhavass (tambour and daf) and weaves a special kind of Sufi musical magic. Azad's grey-flecked, long hair and wispy beard seem perfectly in tune with the ancient Sufi love poems which he sings in a warm tenor voice accompanying himself on the intricate tar (a Persian stringed instrument) and daf (a frame drum).

Like many Sufi musicians Azad is committed to performing around the world, as he explains in near-perfect English.

"I was born in Tabriz in the Iranian part of Azerbaijan," he says. "I came to Tehran when I was 28. For the last three years I have lived in London and Austria. I have been performing internationally since 1991. I have performed around 200 concerts outside Iran in that time."

His first concert tour of Australia offers local audiences an important extra dimension to their understanding of Sufi music. Until now the only contact Australian audiences have had with this style of mystic music has been through the performances of the Pakistani qawwali singers, the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (who performed at WOMADelaide and in Sydney) and The Sabri Brothers.

Pakistan is only a very small part of the vast Sufi community. Sufism, a deeply spiritual-mystical branch of Islam, which emphasises the divine love of God and the unity of all things, started in the eighth century in Basra (at the time part of Persia), found its spiritual centre in Mesopotamia and Persia, and slowly spread south and west, so that by the 11th century it was well established in the Indian subcontinent and as far west as Morocco.

For Sufis, music and poetry are absolutely integral to worship and, not surprisingly, Sufi music varies according to the culture in which it is created. Thus Nusrat and the Sabris play in a distinctive Pakistani style.

The sacred texts they sing may be shared but their modes of expression are dramatically different from Davod Azad's, which are steeped in a mixture of Iranian classical music, Azeri folk music and an ancient style of Persian Sufi music which has been neither modified nor diluted by Western influences.

In simple terms Pakistani qawwali singers rely on droning harmoniums, dramatic singing and rich harmonies, while Azad's Iranian musical emphasis is more on the intricate plucked interplay between oud and tar, the exuberant complexity of the daf, and quietly beautiful renditions of spiritual poetry.

"I was initiated into Sufism when I was 19 years old," says Azad. "I was not born into a Sufi family. I was really interested in Sufism and mysticism since my childhood. So my music has developed in Sufi sessions."

"I haven't had a teacher in Iranian music. I have learnt by myself. This was the way the music was learnt in ancient times. It was learnt from the masters. I have researched Iranian music and learnt a specific way of playing and singing."

"I have seen all the masters but I have not had them as teachers. I have tried to copy their way of playing. Mostly I have researched old Iranian music."

So is Sufi music essentially religious music?

"We can't say religious," says Azad. "The texts that we sing are about love and truth. All the melodies I compose are based on traditional music because Iranian traditional music is Sufi music. All arts in Iran have been influenced by the philosophy of mysticism. We can't separate them. We need knowledge of traditional music to be able to play Sufi music."

"But that is not enough. After acquiring this musical knowledge the musician needs to be a real Sufi. You must not make a show of yourself on stage. You must not show yourself as: 'I am playing. I am a musician.' "

"The aim is to transfer the feeling to the audience. You should lose yourself inside the music. Otherwise your music will leave people cold."

"The musician is a tool."

source

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