Mehdi Aminian & Maryam Abtahi | Woven Sounds Performance | Full concert

This concert is a tribute to Iran's Weaving Heritage and is based on the documentary "Woven Sounds" by Mehdi Aminian who invited Maryam Abtahi to perform for the first time in her life in public.
Live at Morgenland Festival Osnabrück, Germany 2023.

-- Turn on cc for English translation Subtitle of poems

Maryam Sadat Abtahi – vocals & weaving
Şirin Pancaroğlu – harp
Tohid Vahid – kamanche, setar
Joss Turnbull – percussion
Mehdi Aminian – ney, setar, concept & musical direction

Roots Revival as a non-profit & non-governmental entity, relies on your supports and donation to be able to make new projects:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted...


"The Woven Sounds music project is inspired by the intangible cultural heritage surrounding carpet weaving in Iran. It represents a natural symbiosis of research, film, and music performance. The creation process felt like returning home...
This was made possible by Michael Dreyer who shared the initial idea, the great team of Morgenland Festival Osnabrück, and by Ioana Aminian's essential support. Woven Sounds evolved through constant artistic dialogue with the weaver/singer Maryam Abtahi who sang for the first time in public and on stage, and all the other musicians.

This project is dedicated to all the overshadowed and invisible women and their struggles in my country..."
~Mehdi Aminian

Our Instagram:
  / roots.revival.official  

Program:

00:00 - Intro
00:12 - Lullaby from Isfahan Province
- Weaver/Singer: Maryam Abtahi
05:27 - Woven Prelude - by Mehdi Aminian
17:15 - Song of Partridge – a Qashqai song arranged by the ensemble
21:32 - Gal ay Gal (Come, oh come) – a Qashqai song arranged by Mehdi Aminian
26:34 - Chahar Mezrabe Daftin (Weaving Comb) -
Composition by Mehdi Aminian
29:25 - Lullaby from North of Fars province
- Interpreted by Maryam Abtahi & Joss Turnbull
31:50 - Percussion & Effects Improvisation - Joss Turnbull
35:26 - Harp Improvisation
- Şirin Pancaroğlu
37:43 - Kamancheh Improvisation
- Tohid Vahid
41:20 - Ney Improvisation
- Mehdi Aminian
46:19 - Sükut (Silence)
- by Şirin Pancaroğlu
48:32 - Hands -
by Şirin Pancaroğlu
52:03 - Naqshe Khani (Pattern Singing)
- The video projection
53:08 - Naqshe Khani (Pattern Singing) -
by Mehdi Aminian
59:51 - Setar Improvisation -
Tohid Vahid
01:04:00 - Daare Zendegi (Loom of Life) - by Mehdi Aminian
01:12:12 - Lullaby from Isfahan Province
- Weaver/Singer: Maryam Abtahi

Translation of the poems:

1. "Lullaby from Isfahan" - 00:12
I weave the intricate Kashan Carpet, My fingers bleed, but I persist.
For I am a weaver through and through, Without weaving, no blankets for my nights anew.

2. "Song of Partridge" - 17:15
I am a partridge, hunt me down! Return me to the mountains
In the middle of the night, put me on your chest
During the days, put me in chains
I long for the beloved's return, so my days return to the past joyful days
O, vast expanse, I long to rest my head upon your breast
The rain never ends the thirst of the earth, how can my thirst for your love be ended?
I long for the beloved's return, so my days return to the past joyful days.

3. "Gal ay Gal (Come o come)" - 21:32
The partridge is sitting on the rock, come, my beloved, come!
I went and saw she is filling up the waterskin. Come, my beloved, come!
She was filling up light instead of water, come my beloved come!
In the desert, there is a well. The water is sweeter than sugar, come, my beloved, come!

4. "Naqshe Khani (Pattern Singing)" - 53:08
We have all white in the margine! - I hit!
Between them there is Senjedi (kind of green)! - I hit!
Leave one till the next! - I hit!
First one becomes Nokhodi (Kind of khaki)! - I hit!
One is left to Bidmeshki (kind of Brown)! - I hit!
We have a white going forward! - I hit!
Between them there is Senjedi (kind of green)! - I hit!

5. "Loom of life" - a poem by Mehdi Aminian - 01:04:00
How have you nurtured my face in this form, o beloved?
Where have you woven the warp and weft of my existence?
My life and soul are an allegory for this warp and weft.
My scheme and patterns come from you, the being of the universe
As you name my warp and weft, my fate inevitability
o without you, I would be suspended in wistful longing even if I own the seven heavens
Every knot and loop I tie on this body and soul,
the choice is mine when I thread the patterns of my beloved’s face
In this loom of life, each knot that I place,
your thoughts and memories with each breath would place a knot on my being.

Project Collaborators
Ioana Aminian
Mitra Harandi
Mina Harandi
Mahsa Vafaei

Sound recording
Martin Schmeing

Sound mix & Master
Tohid Vahid

Camera
Michel Links
Philipe Meise

Video edit
Simon Zauner

Special thanks to
Micheal Dreyer
Johanna Schlottke
Petra Rieß
Mostafa Eghbali
Arjang Omrani
Austrian Academy of Sciences - VLACH
Thede Kahl
Walid Abboud
Ali Bordbar
Karin Altmann
Manuel Wandl

Roots Revival 2023