Madman of God

Album review

Remarkably for a singer of such high reputation, who has been active as a recording artist since the mid-1980s, this is Sussan Deyhim's first solo recording. Previous outings included albums created in tandem with Richard Horowitz, the magnificent Majoun among them, and innumerable guest appearances on CDs by the likes of Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble, Russell Mills, and Brian Eno. On Madman of God Deyhim returns to the roots of her own musical tradition: a millennium's worth of Sufi love poetry. Familiar folk music to generations of Iranians, Deyhim transcends the merely archival in her interpretations of these classic melodies with her rich, musty vocals and eclectic arrangements. More than ably assisting her are a cross-genre collection of musicians, including Raz Mesinai (aka Badawi), Reggie Workman, Karsh Kale, Horowitz, cellist Dawn Bukholtz Andrews, and Reza Derakhshani on a variety of stringed traditional instruments. Deyhim certainly exercises her gift with flourish; the largely wordless vocal of "Daylaman (Inextricable)" or her show-stopping imitation of tablas on "Negara (Mesmerized Mirror)" are but two striking examples. Together with performances like the elegiac "Hamcho Farhad (Our Tears, Our Wine, Our Sight)" and "Navai (Savage Bird)," with its distinctly Celtic undertones, this album is actually more accessible than her more avant-garde (though equally entrancing) efforts with Horowitz.

© Stephen Fruitman /TiVo