Borrowing inspiration from the jazz greats, Street sets a scene of a lively journey through bustling streets through to an unkempt wilderness.
Musically inspired by the likes of Rabih Abou-Khalil, Anouar Brahem, Kayhan Kalhor, Ravi Shankar and more, Afternoon Tea at Six expands on the rich palette of Persian classical and Western contemporary influences established on the Ensemble’s first album, Nim Dong. Listeners will notice a slight departure from Sadeghi’s previous work – the compositions are more daring, the instrumentals bounce off each other like good friends in conversation, and the balance between Persian and jazz elements is fine-tuned to perfection.
“The record tells seven stories,” explains Sadeghi. “We drank a cup of Persian black tea before every rehearsal and tried to narrate the stories with a different texture. The idea of writing this album was to create a strong foundation where guest musicians can join and easily blend in. After forming Eishan Ensemble and playing with them for a few years, I discovered the great potential in this band and started writing music based on every musician’s character. Persian classical and western contemporary harmony is used to build melodies and phrases. We all have our sections where we improvise while everyone else is all ears listening in the background.”
Street is one of the strongest expressions of Sadeghi’s compositional ability. Borrowing inspiration from the jazz greats, Street sets a scene of a lively journey through bustling streets through to an unkempt wilderness. Each note hits like a boot to the footpath, pacing gently as the strings and woodwork flutter by on the wind. The track is almost deceptively casual and relaxed, yet focusing on any of the many individual instruments tells a different tale – one of intricacy, structural mastery and freeform expertise – all of which come to shine at various parts of this ever-colourful adventure.
“Street is written based on Jazz patterns,” begins Sadeghi. “Swing melody, Classic Jazz chords and a fixed number of bars for improvisations. I wrote this piece when I spent a week in the bushes in Byron Bay Queensland. I had to walk a long distance every day to get my coffee from the nearest local café. On the way back to my cottage I could only think of a swing melody!”
Since the release of Nim Dong, the Eishan Ensemble has enjoyed high praise for their enigmatic live performances, going so far as to earn a four-star review from the Sydney Morning Herald for their careful blend of old-meets-new musicianship. Their performance at Sydney’s Fringe Festival 2019 earned them a well-deserved nomination for the Best Music Award, and Sadeghi has earned award nominations at Sydney Festival 2019 and Best Original Score with Michael Askill at the Sydney Theatre Awards 2019.
The next 12 months takes the Eishan Ensemble on a series of must-see performances as they embark on a national tour in June 2020, followed by a European tour in July/August 2020.
Eishan Ensemble’s second record, Afternoon Tea at Six, is available via Art As Catharsis on July 19th. The second single, Street, is available to stream now.
