A Yellow Flower (گوڵی زەرد) is the result of Shahriyar Jamshidi’s long-time contemplation of Kurdish culture and poetry.

He attempts to create a conversation between Kurdish music, cultural elements and modern life. This album is a collection of classical and contemporary Kurdish poems. He tries to alter recognized rhythms through sequences of non-redundant asymmetric segments to deliver both the poet’s and the composer’s perception. The concept is more significant and the melodies are inspired by a sense of social circumstances. Specifically, in the two songs “La Bar Darga” and “Goli Zard”,

contemporary poems by Abdulla Pashiw, the composer intended to narrate the concept of these two tales musically. Furthermore, the singer, Kaveh Baban repeats some phrases from the poems to highlight the concept of the story. His fluency in his mother tongue, Sorani Kurdish, in addition to his talent is the key for excellent expression of the poems which all are written in Sorani Kurdish as well.

This album is an orchestral ensemble for Kamanche to build a bridge between Iranian classical music forms and Kurdish music themes. This work is written for a Kamanche ensemble in the absence of the other musical instruments. An individual Kamanche part does not have an independent melodic identity but supports and balances the others. The Pizzicato technique represents rhythm and completes the harmonic distance of the other Kamanche lines. Indeed, the composer tries to introduce the pizzicato technique for Kamanche in a different style. The Alto part either supports the group by long tones in bass range or plays the main melody. The second part of Kamanche has a completely different role in the ensemble and adds new themes. Percussions are the essential members of the group. However, they do not contrast in orchestra and do not play normal rhythm; they create new colors. Udu with its unique song has a special character when it accompanies the Kamanche group.

The vocal part in Kurdish music requires singers to have a wide range of voice that helps them to be able to perform accurately in Kurdish Maqam. Most parts of this work have a low tempo which require the singer to slowly sing the long tones. The singer of this album, Kaveh Baban, performs Kurdish lyrics properly and confidently.

Personnel:
Kaveh Baban-Singer
Farbod Yadolahi- percussion
Shahriyar Jamshidi- Composer & Kamanche

Poem:
At The Door, The Silent Lover & A Yellow Flower by Abdullah Peshew
The lovers’ City by Piramerd
A Kurdish Girl by Abdurrahman Sharafkandi &
Maqam-E-Rast by Havri (Kaveh Baban)

Recording, mixing, and mastering: Alireza Javaheri, Summer 2012
Graphic Design: Alireza Mohayeji