H Â L. T h e  j o u r n e y  o f  l o v e.

"Hâl", the new project of the percussionist Keyvan Chemirani conceived around the voice of his sister Maryam Chemirani.

With Hâl, Keyvan Chemirani creates a luxury case, sometimes silky and luminous, sometimes lively and playful, for the charismatic voice of his sister Maryam Chemirani. Relying on the finesse of his playing on the Indian santour and his brilliant ingenuity on the Persian zarb, Keyvan Chemirani has surrounded himself for this project with true goldsmiths: the virtuoso flutist Sylvain Barou with his warm and deep sound; his brother Bijan Chemirani, delicate and sensitive on the saz and with an astonishing precision on the percussions.

Hâl explores the oriental modality (Iran, India, Turkey...) through original compositions, with a few stops in Celtic countries as a bonus.

Let's embark together on this journey of love where hâl, that ecstatic state of both awakening and forgetting oneself in Persian learned music, is our beacon, our direction!

"Playing with the family, on stage, has always been a special experience. As a natural continuation of learning about life and music, as well as a return to one's roots. I naturally wanted to offer a programme surrounded by my sister Maryam, my brother Bijan and my brother at heart Sylvain Barou. In the continuity of my previous projects (work around the Indo-Eastern modality, acoustic training highlighting ornamentation, the richness of rhythmic patterns, back and forth between the festive and the meditative, space for improvisation within a precise framework...), I chose to centre it around the voice of my sister Maryam Chemirani, whose generosity, warm timbre and charisma touch me deeply and in my opinion deserve a full and complete exhibition. With the marvellous virtuoso Sylvain Barou - about whom one could say, as Rumi said of the ney reed flute, that "it is not air that comes out of his flute, but fire! " - and Bijan Chemirani's delicate sensitivity on the saz and his stunning precision on the percussion, we have a luxury case, sometimes silky, sometimes lively, playful and luminous.”

"My road is on the path my heart has taken," says Saadi. This journey made up of compositions and a few traditional pieces rearranged (Irish, Turkish, Persian) is also a journey of love, following the philosophy of Persian mystics, emphasizing love as a philosophy of life! And may we together get closer to the "hâl", that ecstatic state of both awakening and forgetting oneself, which is sought after in oriental scholarly music! “, KEYVAN CHEMIRANI.

Concert recorded on: 16.10.2021.

Photo: Valters Pelns