Like a Lion: Mamak Khadem and "Heydar"

The random song for today comes from Iranian-American musician Mamak Khadem. Khadem has been called "one of the wonders of world trance music" by the Los Angeles Times, and works from a base of Persian classical music and poetry to weave a sound steeped in ancient tradition but also completely new. Heydar is from her 2007 album Jostojoo (Forever Seeking), and while she continues to use Persian classical music and poetry as her foundation, on this album she has widened the scope of the music to include rhythmic and melodic strains from other countries. She collaborates on Heydar with Turkish musician and composer Ömar Faruk Tekbilek, whose own style builds on Sufi traditional music using traditional instrumentation such as ney, saz, oud, kaval, and zurna but also takes inspiration from ambient electronic music.