Songs Of Our Mothers

Kefaya & Elaha Soroor

Released on 9/27/19 by Bella Union
Main artists: Kefaya & Elaha Soroor
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Elaha Soroor’s vibrant singing is something of a miracle. The odds were stacked against the Afghan singer and seemed to always push her towards silence. She belongs to a Hazara family, a traditionally Shiite ethnicity, and has therefore been the victim of segregation and marginalisation in the Sunni environment of Afghanistan. She was born in exile, in Iran during the Taliban regime. Having returned to Kabul in 2004, she started performing with the group Aryan, who made a name for themselves on a popular television programme and became fairly successful. However, in the traditionally patriarchal society of Afghanistan, a woman can’t sing. Her career as a singer and her activism defending women’s rights were substantial, but the pressure that faced her along with the death threats became too much, so she left for the UK. There, she associated herself with pianist Al MacSween and guitarist Giuliano Modarelli and their musical collective named Kefaya (“enough” in Arabic), a name inspired by the resistance movement against Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.

These open-minded and engaged musicians have all built a contemporary universe around these traditionally Farsi songs, which all proudly highlight maternal power. Songs of Our Mothers combines the energy of rock (Jama Narenji), the colours of jazz (Gole Be Khar, dominated by the Greek clarinet played by Manos Achalinotopoulos, and Bolbi in which Yazz Ahmed’s bugle shines), dub reggae (Arose Jane Madar and Charsi) with Asian and Oriental hues carried by tablas played by Sarathy Korwar and Gurdain Singh Rayatt, Jyotsna Srikanth’s Carnatic violin, and the Uzbek dombra played by Sardor Mirzakhovjaev. This journey across a musical mosaic is transcended by Elaha Soroor’s beautiful singing, notably on the moving Do Chasmane Siyah and the lullaby Lalay Lalay, a duet with the Iranian Mohsen Namjoo, where she reaches the ambition shown by her pseudonym, chosen so as not to bring attention to her family. Elaha Soroor is a veritable goddess of happiness. © Benjamin MiNiMum/Qobuz

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Songs Of Our Mothers

Kefaya & Elaha Soroor

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Jama Narenji