In a climate where the governments of Iran and the United States are hostile to each other, it is badly necessary to send a positive message in return; love and humanity know no bounds! Intercultural musical collaboration is a wonderful instrument for this, as Masha Vahdat and Mighty Sam McClain show. Vahdat is an Iranian singer and McClain is an American blues singer. Their first album Scent Of A
… Reunion is continued in A Deeper Tone Of Longing, recorded in Oslo and Tehran in the spring of 2012. Both singers sing in their own language, Vahdat in Farsi to lyrics by poet Mohammad Ibrahim Jafari and McClain in in English with lyrics by producer Erik Hillestad. These lyrics are woven together into exalted poetic love duets, in which Vahdat's velvety soft meandering vocals beautifully combine with McClain's warm bronze blues voice. The excellent accompanying Norwegian fusion band creates both a bluesy and Eastern atmosphere by the ney flutist Pasha Hanjani and kamanche player Shervin Mohajer. Fascinatingly beautiful music! (SvdP)more
