Galeet Dardashti / Monajat

Galeet Dardashti has been exploring traditional Jewish Iranian music for over 20 years, first with her ensemble, Divahn, and more recently exploring multimedia programs, weaving image and music in "The Naming" (2010). Most recently, she has taken the music to a new level, incorporating recordings of her late grandfather, Younes Dardashti, singing selikhot prayers, interweaving the band and her own voice. The result is an ecstatic, affirming recording that is perfect for the season leading up to the High Holy Days, or anytime a lift in spirits feels appropriate.

Opening with a recording of her grandfather singing "Adonai Melekh / Adonai Malakh / Adonai Yimlokh l'olam va'ed" (Adonai reigns, Adonai has reigned, Adonai continues to reign forever) with the band weaving instruments around the recording and Galeet reciting English in the background, the show grabs us and lifts us to our feet. Galeet then grabs the leads on a traditional "Adon Haselichot" (God of forgiveness), before returning to weave her own voice and band around one of my favorite prayers (and the lines with which we also end Yom Kippur), "Adonai Hu Ha'elohm" (Adonai is it), trading the chanting with her grandfather, back and forth, with the band providing a driving accompaniment. Whether new to piyyut or Middle Eastern song traditions, I cannot imagine listening unmoved, or continuing to sit as the rhythms take hold.

The transition to a somewhat quieter, gentler "Wine song for spring" as the Selikhot service continues, gives the listener a few minutes to relax and enjoy the nuances of Dardashti's voice in a traditional Iranian mode, until she returns to a call/response with her grandfather's voice in "Aneinu" (Answer us).

This recording is a dialogue between Dardashti and her grandfather, but it is also selichot on its own terms—a dialogue between the personal and the Divine (explicitly so, in "Monajat," from a poem attributed to her grandfather). In selecting from his recordings, and in adding her own compositions, Dardashti has created something new, uplifting. She has also connected a modern audience to a tradition going back thousands of years. She has also introduced a new generation and new audience to the poetry of Moshe ibn Ezra and Yehuda Ha-Levi and others.

Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 27 Oct, 2024.

Song Titles

1. Melekh—King (words: anon; music: Persian trad.) 5:06
2. Adon Haselichot—Master of Pardons (words: anon; music: adapted Persian trad.) 4:54
3. Adonai Hu Ha'elohim—Adonai is it (words: anon; music: adapted Persian trad. sung by Younes Dardashti w/verses written by Galeet Dardashti) 5:12
4. Wine Song for Spring (words: Moses ibn Ezra; music: Galeet Dardashti) 5:40
5. The Awakening (Levi ibn al Tabban; music: Galeet Dardashti) 6:01
6. Aneinu—Answer us (words: anon; music: adapted Persian trad.) 4:21
7. Yashen Al Teradam—Why do you soundly sleep (words: Yehuda Ha-Levi; refrains adapted from Persian trad sung by Younes Dardashti w/verses written: Galeet Dardashti) 3:56
8. New Year Invitation (words: Rumi; music adapted Hazzan Farid Dardashti from Atoollah Khorram's song, "Nooraz") 3:19
9. Nafshi IvitichaWith all my soul I long for you (words: Moses ibn Ezra; music: Galeet Dardashti) 5:01
10. Monajat—Intimate Dialogue with the Divine (excerpted from a Persian poem attributed to Younes Dardashti; changed by Younes Dardashti; trans: Ruby Namdar, Shahrokh Bassal, Hazzan Farid Dardashti) 4:09
11. El Nora Alilah—God of Awe (words: Moses ibn Ezra; music adapted from Hazzan Farid Dardashti's interpretation of the Persian tradition) 4:35
12. Im Afes—In Early Morning Tehran (words: Rabbi Ephraim ben Yitzchak of Regensburg;; changed by Younes Dardashti; featuring a rooster as himself) 2:38

All songs traditional. Arrangements: Galeet Dardashti, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Omer Avital, Amir ElSaffar, Max ZT, John Stanesco, Zafer Tawil, Matt Kilmer, Philip Mayer, Daniel Ori

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