TEHRAN-The latest album of the Iranian traditional singer Mohammad Motamedi with the jazz music ensemble Rembrandt Trio from the Netherlands has been chosen as one of the best albums of 2023 by the Dutch newspaper NRC.

In the album titled “Intizar: Songs of Longing,” traditional songs are finely arranged for original compositions on poems by Persian poets Omar Khayyam and Hafez, IRNA reported.

It is an evocative journey to the heart of the musical soul of Iran, which is one of the world’s richest cultures. With the addition here and there of violin, cello and clarinet, the whole takes on the appearance of ecumenical chamber music that is both timeless and resolutely contemporary; it is beautiful, touching, and inspiring.

The word “Intizar” is used in Turkish, Farsi and Arabic and expresses hopeful anticipation. The offers songs that fit the more spiritual, traditional Persian repertoire, as well as a number of more worldly songs of Motamedi’s youth on which the Rembrandt Trio was expanded into a larger, chamber ensemble, with the addition of violin by Myrthe Helde, cello by Maya Fridman and clarinet by Maarten Ornstein.

The interplay of Rembrandt Trio and Motamedi is totally natural. The jazz background and extensive improvisation experience of the Dutch musicians fits the crucial role of improvisation in traditional Persian classical music.

The Rembrandt Trio, made up of Rembrandt Frerichs (piano, fortepiano and organ), Tony Overwater (violin, double bass) and Vinsent Planjer (percussion), is no stranger to cross-cultural adventures as it was Initially formed to fill an interstitial space between classical, jazz and Near and Middle Eastern music.

This album is the third collaboration of the Dutch Rembrandt Trio with an Iranian master. Previous projects of the trio were with grandmasters like composer and tar player Hossein Alizadeh and composer and kamancheh and setar player Kayhan Kalhor.

Motamedi, 45, started singing and playing ney (Middle-Eastern flute-like wind instrument) from adolescence. So far, he has collaborated with many local classical groups as well as the Iranian National Orchestra. He has released more than 15 albums and has held several performances in Iran, Italy, Poland, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the U.S.

He has a resume ranging from working with the great maestros of Iranian music such as Ali Rahbari, Mohammadreza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh, Majid Derakhshani, Farhad Fakhreddini, etc. as well as working with international figures including Roger Waters.

NRC is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands.

SS/SAB