Wikipedia

Lost Songs of the Silk Road

Lost Songs of the Silk Road is the debut album by Ghazal, a trio made up of Iranian and Indian musicians.[2][3] Swapan Chaudhuri played the tabla, Kayhan Kalhor played the kamancheh, and Shujaat Khan played the sitar.[4][5] The album was released in 1997.[6][7]

Lost Songs of the Silk Road
Studio album by
Ghazal
Released1997
LabelShanachie[1]
ProducerBrian Cullman
Ghazal chronology
Lost Songs of the Silk Road
(1997) 		As Night Falls on the Silk Road
(1998)

Production edit

The album was produced by Brian Cullman.[8] It was recorded in New York City. The songs began with a basic melody played by Kalhor and Khan, before turning to improvisation.[9]

Critical recpeption edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [10]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [11]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide     [8]

The New York Times stated: "Each piece is a long three-way improvisation based on simple melodies that the players push back and forth, and the reedy scrape of Kayhan Kalhor's bowed fiddle creeps out stealthily like a human voice, a rough and ancient sound against the metallic ringing of the sitar."[12] Billboard deemed the album a "soulful, pioneering hybrid."[13]

The Oregonian praised the "slow, dreamlike improvisations marked by elegant thematic development and marvelous subtlety and detail."[14] Ethnomusicology concluded that "the melodic expression on this CD hovers somewhere between dastgah and rag, but Shujaat's forceful improvisations tend to pull the whole closer to Indian styles and structures."[15]

AllMusic called the album "a fascinating meeting of Persian and Indian musical and cultural influences."[10]

Track listing edit

No.TitleLength
1."The Saga of the Rising Sun" 
2."Come with Me" 
3."You Are My Moon" 
4."Safar/Journey" 

References edit

  1. ^ Schwartz, Mark (May 1998). "Ghazal: Lost Songs of the Silk Road". Audio. Vol. 82, no. 5. p. 77.
  2. ^ "Ghazal". NPR.
  3. ^ Wald, Elijah (August 21, 2012). Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music. Routledge.
  4. ^ Moon, Tom (September 26, 2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. Workman Publishing.
  5. ^ Lavezzoli, Peter (April 24, 2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. A&C Black.
  6. ^ Nooshin, Laudan (2017). Iranian Classical Music: The Discourses and Practice of Creativity. Routledge.
  7. ^ "Music a mix of far-off songs". Ottawa Citizen. 29 Oct 1998. p. H3.
  8. ^ a b MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 2000. pp. 285–286.
  9. ^ Curiel, Jonathan (November 5, 2003). "India, Iran an ideal musical groove". San Francisco Chronicle. p. D1.
  10. ^ a b "Ghazal: Lost Songs of the Silk Road". AllMusic.
  11. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. MUZE. pp. 733–734.
  12. ^ Ratliff, Ben (11 Nov 1997). "Longer Songs to Fill Shorter Days". The New York Times. p. E3.
  13. ^ Bambarger, Bradley (Dec 6, 1997). "Persian classical music finds U.S. ears". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 49. pp. 13, 89.
  14. ^ Hughley, Marty (October 9, 1998). "Trio Aims to Reunite Two Brothers: The Music of Iran, India". Arts and Entertainment. The Oregonian. p. 44.
  15. ^ Henderson, David R. (Spring–Summer 2003). "'Lost Songs of the Silk Road: Persian and Indian Improvisations: Ghazal'". Ethnomusicology. 47 (2): 280–283.
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