Niyaz
Nine Heavens

I am fully aware that my credibility as a de-reviewer is akin to that of an ice cube placed atop a scorching desert dune, but, just this once, forget about my usual nonsense, abandon all hesitation, pretend you didn't read it on this abominable page-breaker, but do yourself a favor, grant your swollen and often unjustly mistreated ears (think about how many musical-fooleries you've forced them to endure..) the luxury of an album worthy of being listened to, lived, bitten, breathed, danced, skin-transpired... in short look for it in any way the 'paradisiacal' work published at the turn of last year by these three eminent gentlemen: You will thank yourself.

"World Music for the 21st Century"

Fantastic!

There are no more appropriate terms to describe the captivating, spectacular, engaging, riveting, enchanting paradises of musical-spatial-geographical-temporal profusions and emanations in the second work of the phenomenal Iranian trio Niyaz.

Truly, rarely has there been an opportunity to perceive such a balanced, convincing, and natural union between Tradition and Contemporaneity: the fundamental structural and vocal framework harkens back to Sufi mysticism and its enveloping musical structures; the sublime vocal flights performed by the perfect chanteuse Azam Ali, are infused with refined yet deep, intense electronic textures that do not scratch or weigh down the melange but rather exponentially, almost embarrassingly, strengthen the overall intensity and global involvement rate; it's truly improbable not to be swept away by the visceral opening: the spectacle called "Beni Beni" or not to be petrified in astonishment at the trance-tribalisms contained in "Molk-E-Divan".

A reckless and ungracious comparison to what these artists materialize might be made with what was once advocated by the early Transglobal Underground: let it be clear, the comparison results in a horribly deficient view of the former group of the still talented Natacha Atlas: here we truly find ourselves on another planet in terms of quality.

The work is overall structured around seventeen fragments, the last eight of which (or the second CD if you prefer) are nothing but performances/readings defined in "Acoustic" fashion (performed solely with the aid of traditional instruments, setting aside the modern technological arsenal) of the tracks present in the first part of the work: such is the quality of the execution of both sections that it is a considerable (very pleasant and rewarding) challenge to favor one dimension over the other.

I won't bore you any further.