The kinetic energy that drives artists to collaborate is a joy to behold, particularly after the strictures imposed by the pandemic. Martin Hayes’s Common Ground Ensemble embodies that spirit of adventure and so do Navá, a four-piece band who thrive in the in-between spaces that exist in Irish and Persian musical traditions.
Iranian-born Shahab Coohe, his brother Shayan and Irish musicians Paddy Kiernan and Niall Hughes have emerged from the darkness of the past two years with a tantalising collection of tunes, forged in a void where the joys of live performance were suspended.
Toranj is Navá’s third album, and marks a significant milestone for the band. They have expanded their sound palette beyond the original mix of guitar, bass, banjo and Persian santoor, a precursor to the dulcimer and piano; tar, an early version of a lute or guitar; and tombak, the principal percussion instrument in Persian music. Adding clarinet, saxophone, double bass and cello, this is a collection that draws the listener deep into the well. The band’s choice of title captures their philosophy, as the word Toranj is Farsi for the central point of a Persian rug’s design, where the patterns all meet.
Toranj defines that: how everything unites in the end. That happens in a Persian rug
“It’s a challenge to come up with a name, whether it’s a song, or an album title or a symphony,” says Shahab, clearly excited on the day before the band’s first live performance in Ireland in more than two years. “Tchaikovsky struggled to pick out a name for his sixth symphony, the Pathétique. Of course we considered the two nations, Iran and Ireland, their languages and their history, and something relatable to our music. Shayan and I suggested Toranj because this record is quite special. After two years of not playing together, we felt a little bit unsettled. I think the album demonstrates a lot of that. There are very happy moments and very dark moments in it as well, because that’s what we all went through in the last two years.”
Stay the course
Staying the course, despite these limitations, is at the heart of this multilayered album.
“Something happened during the recording,” says Shahab. “It wasn’t a typical recording, and it had a lot of ups and downs, but it all came together very well in the end, and everything fitted. Toranj defines that: how everything unites in the end. That happens in a Persian rug. The middle part is where all the patterns, all the shades come together. They have their own pattern starting out, but when they come to the middle, there’s a common ground where they reunite again, where there’s a strong connection.”
There’s a rich sense of history threaded through Toranj, of music finely filtered through time and space – unhurried, unforced and utterly new too. Navá’s two Iranian members, the brothers Coohe, value the rich history that coloured their own musical upbringing, which is best expressed in the word Persian, rather than Iranian.
“Persia is the old name for Iran, and Persia used to be a massive empire in the Middle East,” says Shahab, referring to the vast geographical reach it commanded in the fifth century BC. “A lot of countries which are now not part of Iran used to be part of Persia, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Afghanistan. And even after all those years, you can still hear the influences in the language, the music, the culture. It’s a fascinating country when it comes to diversity. It’s like having 15 or 20 countries within one country. And for us, Persian traditional music refers to something that’s very old, like Persian classical music.”
Jazz inflections
Toranj melds Persian influences with Irish traditional music, adding some of the subtlest jazz inflections along the way. Which is not to say that it is a random melting pot of international sounds. Navá’s members are extremely well versed in their musical histories, and adopt a considered approach to weaving instruments and influences together. For Shahab, the process is intensely visual as well.
“I see it as being very similar to painting,” he says. “Depending on what you want to draw, you need different colours. That was the case with this third album for us. We needed more colour in the band. Painters use two or three different types of blue. Some of it is lighter and some of it darker. We felt the need to do that with this album. So for example, we have two guitar players, Niall Hughes and [guest] Tony Byrne, because we felt that the colour Tony was making was more suitable to a very specific part of one tune. We also wanted to include the influence of jazz, and that required more and different instrumentation to register different sounds.”
Our music proves that there doesn't need to be any complications when people sit down and play together. There doesn't need to be any politics, or anything more than music
Having arrived in Ireland 10 years ago, and having recently been made an Irish citizen, Shahab is proud of the riches that his birthplace and adopted home have bestowed on him.
“I think this album is a product of us, and of the country welcoming us, and it gave us the opportunity to grow in our own way,” he says. “The most important thing is that I feel like I really belong to this land now, and I think you can really hear the influences in my writing. I think now it’s become more Irish influences than Persian influences, which is interesting. I think this album is definitely a product of this country.”
At 28, Coohe sees the past decade as formative.
“I grew up here. You form your personality during those years from 18 on,” he says. “I’m really enjoying living here and I think I’ve managed to contribute a lot to the music of Ireland, and I feel really thankful for the opportunities that I’ve been given here. Our music proves that there doesn’t need to be any complications when people sit down and play together. There doesn’t need to be any politics, or anything more than music. Music is peaceful, it’s thoughtful, it’s deeper than politics and it speaks the most honest language.”
