Where Everything is Music

In 2023 this project was created for MONA FOMA and combined two contrasting and beautiful musical traditions to create enormously delicate and mystical sounds. The result is magical and brings together a seemingly incongruous range of musicians. Where Everything is Music sees Afghan master musicians Khaled Arman (rubab), Siar Hashimi (tabla, vocals) and Masud Hashimi (percussion) partnering with the baroque supergroup Van Diemen’s Band: Julia Fredersdorff (baroque violin), Luke Plumb (mandolin), Rachel Meyers (viola), Laura Vaughan (viola da gamba, violone), Martin Penicka, (violoncello), and Donald Nicolson (harpsichord). 

The performance combines centuries-old Afghan and Persian traditional music (now banned in Afghanistan) with Western classics by Satie, Bach and Hildegard of Bingen. The result is sublime and each piece in the performance fuses the two traditions together in a manner that is seamless and natural. Hashimi’s vocals are delicate and heartfelt, bringing high levels of emotion to the music with quiet humility. Arman is masterful on the rubab (Afghan lute) and adds an extraordinary dimension to the music. When this music is combined with the instruments from the baroque tradition such as Nicolson on the harpsichord the music is transformed into a beautiful cross-cultural artefact. It literally transports the audience into a different realm. The percussion instruments create a lively and vibrant pace that makes the music quite irresistible.

Each piece blended the dynamic melodies of Afghan and Persian music with the sweet and intricate tones of the gut-string period instruments of classical Western music. Hashimi’s beautiful vocals opened the performance with Ay naynawâ and began the mystical nature of this musical journey. The softness of his voice made the music extremely soulful and evocative. Each piece was a highlight in itself and included moments of emphasising the different instruments. Nos esprits libres began with the rubab making this a particularly moving and powerful piece. The Afghan musicians also have the opportunity to enter into a vibrant improvised dialogue with one another which is incredibly enchanting. The music in this program often builds up to moments of orchestral harmony and unity and the performance concluded with a spectacular encore.

As the program suggests, ‘ready your ears’ as this is a rare opportunity to experience some truly unique sounds that will gently elicit warm, wonderful and strong emotions around love, celebration, despair and triumph.

Patricia Di Risio 

Images: Moorilla Gallery.