Thursday, March 11, 2004


not news to us

that coffee contains anti-oxidant compounds and that these appear to prevent diabetes, colon cancer, heart disease, etc. etc. is scarely news to long-time bccy readers. still we love to see confirming studies.

more news of this came across my computer screen as i was rocking out to one of my favorite musics, the amazing artistry of kayhan kalhor.

those who know me have long understood that my music collection is quite odd, and that i have a long, long time thing for persian classical music, especially the instrument known as the kamancheh.

classical persian music is rather like modern jazz: improvisational, passionate. actually, it's also deeply reminiscent of jimi hendrix in its ecstatic flights, which is probably why the kronos quartet is also drawn to it.

it is usually accompanied by wild hand drumming on the tombak, meaning it has an incredible beat. watching the tombak player is rather like seeing keith moon in action.

the songs are, as with jazz, often referencing "standards," and then shredding them at the outer limits to find the emotional purity of the piece. in the case of persian music, the standards are often the poems of rumi or hafiz, all of which have long been associated with musical modes or patterns.

the kamancheh in particular is a fascinating thing, in that it can sound like a violin, a lute, a viola, a viola da gamba, a guitar, even a flute. in the more "classical" moments, listening to kalhor play is like listening to itzhak perlman in his most dramatic passages.

and yet the stuff rocks out. . .

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