Dastgaah

Sote's new full-length CD, Dastgaah, brings dead voices back to life for the digital age. He injects the structure of Persian classical music with new lifeblood, resulting in a freaky, fascinating -- and at times frightening -- musical journey. This album was shaped by Sote's return to Iran. He resides in Tehran, and the cultural milieu there has proven fertile territory for experimentation. At the core of Persian classical music are the radif, a collection of old melodies handed down through generations. The more than two hundred radif are each divided into short melodies called gusheh, which are themselves divided into twelve dastgaah. Musicians decide on which dastgaahs and which of their gushehs to perform, depending on the mood of a certain time or situation. Like those ancient musicians, Sote's Dastgaah suggests obscure dangers lurking just beneath the surface. This is glacial music. Here's what he says about the new album: "This is about voices from the ancient Persian times brought back to life. Traditional instruments become most modern, post f***ing modern! It is evolution accelerated."