1001 Other AlbumsWhen I put out a survey for Mastodonians to randomly choose which album I should feature next – number 6, 66, or 666 on The List – I thought it was a missed opportunity that the one metal album out of those three was, in fact, not number 666. But, when number 666 was the winner and I started to do some research on the album (which was submitted by platenworm), I soon learned that 666 – i.e., the so-called “number of the beast” and therefore the number equated with “evil” – may in fact be thought to be a fitting number for this album…at least according to a former clown/President of the United States.
Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat are sisters from Iran. The first release that gained them attention was their appearance on a 2004 compilation cheekily titled Lullabies from The Axis of Evil. The compilation features traditional lullabies from Iraq, Iran, and North Korea – the countries that the ever so daft George W. Bush referred to in his 2002 State of the Union address as being the “axis of evil” – as well as from Syria, Libya, Cuba, Afghanistan, and Palestine. All the lullabies are sung by women as duets, in their original language or English, often pairing a singer from the country the lullaby originates with a singer from a Western country. The album’s US distributor was apparently blacklisted by the Bush administration for releasing the album. (Sigh.)
Following Lullabies, the sisters have put out a number of albums together and solo, as well as collaborations with other artists including the Kronos Quartet, primarily on the Norwegian label, Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Their first album on the label, Songs from a Persian Garden, was a live recording of a concert the sisters gave at the Italian Embassy in Tehran; not only did they perform unveiled, but their performance was in defiance of the ban on women singing in public in Iran.
I Am Eve is the follow up to that album. The lyrics are from traditional and modern Persian/Iranian poetry, and the songs feature traditional Persian instruments and Persian classical music, carried by the utterly gorgeous voices of the Vahdat sisters. It might be too far to say Bush is to thank for bring these wonderful musicians to our attention, but I am incredibly grateful that this album is on our List.
- Songwhip: Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat – I Am Eve
- Discogs: Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat (مهسا و مرجان وحدت) – I Am Eve (هوا منم)
- Website: Mahsa Vahdat
- Website: Marjan Vahdat
[Alt text for accompanying image: The artwork is a photograph of what is likely an ancient statue, votive, or other type of pottery that is likely of a woman or even goddess (in a somewhat abstract form). The album title in English is in red text in the upper left corner, with the Persian/Farsi title in white underneath. The artists’ names are superimposed on the statue in white font near the bottom right corner, with them repeated in Persian/Farsi underneath. A symmetrical flower pattern is also printed on half of the cover in light blue.]
#1001OtherAlbums #Iran #IranianPoetry #MahsaVahdat #MarjanVahdat #PersianClassical #PersianPoetry
