Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat // Twinklings of Hope // CD

Two Iranian sisters and their struggle to keep hope alive

MAHSA & MARJAN VAHDAT: "Twinklings of hope"

They are singers in a country where the regime does not let them sing. They have no stage, no audience to sing to. Yet they sing, and they are the best among 70 million.

The sisters Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat are invisible in their homeland. They are professional singers of the highest quality who break the law every time they perform in their profession. Norwegians and many others in Europe have come to know them through CD projects with Knut Reiersrud, Tord Gustavsen and many other Norwegian musicians. KKV discovered them while we were making "Lullabies from the Axis of Evil". Erik Hillestad was deeply moved by their musical expression and the quality of their singing when he met them in Teheran in 2003. This led to several releases, where "Songs from a Persian Garden" (2007) was the first. Now the two sisters are releasing a new CD which is fully dedicated to their Persian style without any assistance from Western musicians. "Daram Omidi - Twinklings of Hope" is an album featuring the sisters’ Persian ensemble, with Atabak Elyasi (setar), Pasha Hanjani (ney flute) and Ali Rahimi (daf drum), in addition to the two singers. The album was recorded in an old Persian harem.

With new and old Persian poetry as their foundation, they have worked with their band over many years on maturing versions of their own compositions. KKV wanted to give them the total freedom to unfold and excel under their own premises, and Erik Hillestad recorded them in an old Patrician house in Teheran in August of 2011. In the large park surrounding the old pavilions which today house the Italian embassy in Teheran lies the old harem once used by the property's original owners. And this is where the recording took place, in the beautiful rooms with excellent acoustics. The album cover shows pictures of the rooms, the recording session and the ceramic reliefs, painted in traditional Iranian style, that decorate the walls. Poems by Hafez, Attar and Rumi are mixed with modern poets from the rich poetic traditions of Iran.

Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat are allowed to sing on stages outside their native country. They regularly receive invitations from countries in Europe, America and Asia. But they long to perform for their own people and to be respected for their chosen profession. They nurture a resolute hope that it will one day be possible for them to perform on the big stages in their homeland, where today only men are allowed to perform in public.

Track list:

1. Elegy for a garden                                                         6:30

2. Garden of visions                                                          3:47

3. Lullaby                                                                           6:46

4. Golden straws of wheat                                               3:49

5. When the curl of your tress appears                          4:48

6. The moon of our beloved's face                                 2:41

7. Navaï                                                                              8:23

8. A promise to my beloved                                             8:18

9. Crane                                                                             10:02

10. Come, my beloved                                                      8:27

11. Twinklings of hope                                                      2:40