Musical Connections: Afsaneh Rassa'i, Hossein Alizadeh and Madjid Khaladj with "Mavaraon'nah, Avaz"

In the miasma of the Middle East, where currently intractable enemies are holding their nose and working toward the same goals - not together at times - Iran stands as a country the West thinks it knows and it really doesn't. A highly complex society, currently calling itself a democracy but which has a lot of elements of theocracy, Iran holds most of the world's Shi'ite Muslim population. Its roots stretch back to ancient Persia, and in its modern formation, Iran may be the most important power player that the United States doesn't want to deal with as it tries to figure out how to fight the Sunni Islamic State gains in Iraq and Syria. While the US and Iran have the same goals of defeating ISIS, they have been intractable enemies for 3½ decades. Ordinary Americans probably know much more about Iraq than they do Iran given all of the media coverage we've seen of Iraq over two wars and an occupation. Yet this is a country that, for all its internal oppression and its maneuverings on the world stage, has contributed much to political and cultural environment. Their music, for example, has ranged from classical and traditional Persian music to psychedelic rock.

Today's random tune is from three Iranian musicians, at least two of which are considered to be masters of their craft. Mavaraon'nah, Avaz is by Afsaneh Rassa'i, Hossein Alizadeh and Madjid Khaladj. I couldn't find much information about Afsaneh Rassai, but Hossein Alizadeh is a leading Iranian classical composer and musician, and an instrumentalist on the tar and setar. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in contemporary Persian music. Madjid Khaladj is an Iranian percussionist living in France and an architect that has devoted himself entirely to music. Along with playing alongside some of the greatest names in Persian music, he also scores film. This song, Mavaraon'nahr, Avaz is from the 2006 CD Musique du monde: Musique Iranienne - Sâz-é Nô.