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| Improvisations from the Doyen of Kurdish Nay Shaho Andalibi, Chris Pruden, and Scott Peterson present Trio Andalibi – Improvisations from the Doyen of Kurdish Nay Shaho Andalibi (ney) Scott Peterson (bass) Chris Pruden (piano) Release Date: March 28th, 2025 Shaho Andalibi is a widely respected nay (reed flute) player and an in-demand sideplayer virtuoso for top traditional Persian performers. He's performed alongside some of Iran's biggest artists including Mohammadre Reza Shajarian, Kamkars, Alireza Ghrorbani, Majid Derakhshani, and Kaykhosro Pournazeri, as well as with legendary Indian sitar player, Shujaat Hussein Khan. Shaho is Kurdish, and he sought to incorporate a significant amount of Kurdish music into this first solo album. The melody for "Dayeh" was composed by his father for someone who had been killed in war, written from the perspective of a mother who'd lost a son. On "Dusk" and "Romnce" there's an old Kurdish motif that Shaho expanded and rearranged. Like all the other works in this album, this is the first time that these melodies are being used in a Western style of composition. At just 16 years old, Shaho composed these melodies to the works of the 14-15th century poet, Shah Nematollah Vali. "Saghi-Nameh" is a traditional Iranian (not Kurdish) melody, significant within the Iranian Dastgah system. Link Music Lab's Mahmoud "Moudy" Schricker and Shaho have been working together on live music projects for over a decade. Now, as Shaho's making moves from his role as a side musician to solo artist in his own right, Link Music Lab is working to support him in this mission. On June 16, 2023, Link Music Lab presented and recorded a performance of Shaho's arrangements of traditional Iranian folk songs in collaboration with two top-tier jazz improvisers, Scott Peterson (bass), and Chris Pruden (piano). Held at Toronto's Small World Centre, the quality of this performance truly blew everyone away, audience and participants included. This performance will be released by Link Music Lab as Shaho's first fully solo album: Trio Andalibi – Improvisations from the Doyen of Kurdish Nay Link Music Lab's artistic vision aims to place itself at the forefront of contemporary multiculturalism in Toronto. This means creating an environment for creative experimentation, a laboratory for innovation, fusing artistic modes together, and offering both artists and listeners a chance to engage with new Canadian works that result from these collaborations. All of Shaho's life he's been deeply influenced by mysticism and Kurdish music, and with this album he's finally exploring this musical foundation of his with his own creative compass. This collection of works is a culmination of all that Shaho has learned and specialized in throughout his musical life. He's collected motifs usually used in traditional Iranian folk songs. Here those melodies are being interpolated through his teachings to his two musical collaborators, resulting in something both truly unique and simultaneously more accessible to Western audiences, while still very much serving as a definitive statement of his musical identity. The forms of this traditional repertoire aren't easy for those unfamiliar with the idiom to understand, but he wanted to see what interpretations could arise without knowledge of these forms being pre-ingrained. The form in these pieces can be compared to a butterfly that's struggling to fly, and finally succeeds, but then again it lands, and tries to fly yet again. So in other words there's lots of movement. It was initially a challenge to translate the structure of these pieces to non-Iranian musicians, but that was the whole point. Shaho's approach to this cross-cultural sharing process was well thought out in that he carefully chose the order in which to introduce the pieces to be performed to his collaborators so they could gradually gain an understanding of how to go about both comping and improvising on these motifs. About the Trio: Shaho Bio Shaho was born in Sanadaj, Kurdistan, Iran. He learned Kurdish music, melodies and modes from his late father Iraj Andalibi at the age of 4, playing the Persian Ney from his cousin Jamshid Andalibi, singing techniques from Maestro Mohammad Reza Shajarian and improvising and group performance from Maestro Majid Derakhshani. Shaho obtained his Master's degree from the Art University of Tehran in 2007 with specialty in Playing Iranian Musical Instruments. He is a virtuoso performer with more than 50 performances across the globe, accompanied the grandmaster Mohamadreza Shajarian in Ava and Shahnaz Ensemble, grandmaster Sima Bina and many Iranian groups such as Mah-Banoo, Khorshid, Mah, Shams, Mawlana Ensembles and international ensembles like Netherland Symphonic Orchestra. Also, he has been a skillful music teacher with more than 25 years of extensive experience. Shaho has participated in production of more than 40 music albums such as Morghe Khoshkhan, Rendane Mast and Gole Sib, in ensemble and solo recordings. In 2016, he established Andalib Music Academy in Toronto. He had a successful tour with Andalib Ensemble "Sounds of Persia in Tirgan Festival and other performances in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Shaho has also been awarded the "Aga Khan Music" in 2019. Chris Pruden Chris Pruden is a pianist, keyboardist, composer, and educator based in Toronto ON. His own projects include Little Jim, and the solo piano album SUNS on Elastic Recordings. Some groups he's a part of include Tara Kannangara, Zinnia, Sammy Jackson, Adversarial Networks, Future Machines, Ronley Teper's Lipliners, Language Arts, Parade, Marito Marques, Moonbliss, Kira May, Blue Season, Mark Godfrey Quintet, Mack Longpre Group, BaruBaru, Northern Danger, Nick Teehan Scott Peterson Scott Peterson is a composer, producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and singer. He writes and produces music under the moniker "Prince Enoki" Scott has collaborated with Laraaji, played bass and arranged for Toronto's Massey Hall Band and produced Zimbabwean band Nhapitapi. His bass playing can be heard on recordings by Riverrun, Nhapitapi, Lara Solnicki, and the Bruce Mcdonald film "Dreamland". Currently Scott is bassist in Asiko Afrobeat and Labyrinth Ensemble. Scott contributed bass and assisted composer Jonathan Goldsmith with the score of the upcoming CBC series "The Porter". Scott contributed throat singing to Jonathan Goldsmith's score for the film Burn Your Maps and recorded a piece by Aaron Jensen with the Elmer Iseler Singers. He produced and arranged harpist Kathryn Merriam's upcoming record "Rhythm of the Sunlight" Scott has a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Bass from University of Calgary. He has studied throat singing in Tuva, guitar in Brazil, gamelan in Bali, and composition and piano in Toronto. write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |