TEHRAN-The latest album of the Iranian traditional singer Mohammad Motamedi “Intizar, Songs of Longing,” in which he collaborated with the jazz music ensemble Rembrandt Trio from the Netherlands, has been nominated for the annual awards 2024 by German Record Critics' Award.

Music critics and journalists from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have come together to award outstanding music and spoken word productions. The jurors have nominated a total of 109 outstanding new recording productions that were released on the German-speaking market in the last four quarters - titles from all musical genres, including audiobooks.

The annual committee of the German Record Critics' Award decides on the ten Annual Awards, recognizing the best productions of the past year. The committee consists of a rotating cast of ten jurors from various expert juries, ISNA reported.

Produced in 2023, “Intizar, Songs of Longing” contains seven tracks. The word “Intizar” is used in Turkish, Farsi, and Arabic and expresses hopeful anticipation.

In the album, Rembrandt Trio made up of Rembrandt Frerichs, Tony Overwater, and Vinsent Planjer, have pushed their musical boundaries, also collaborating with violinist Myrthe Helder, cellist Maya Fridman, and clarinetist Maarten Ornstein. Born out of a special friendship, it is improvisation that is the guiding principle.

The album contains pieces that fit the more spiritual, traditional Persian repertoire, with texts by Hafez, Khayyam, and Aref Qazvini as well as a number of more worldly songs on which the trio is joined by violin, cello, and clarinet.

Motamedi’s unrivaled vocals are matched with rare instrumentation; Rembrandt Frerichs plays old church organs and antique fortepianos, Planjer a whisperkit, and Overwater a violone.

The collaboration between the Rembrandt Trio and Motamedi becomes an adventurous journey through the colorful Persian musical landscape, where musicians from different continents find a shared language in music and improvisation.

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 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 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, 46, 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.

The German Record Critics’ Award is an independent association of 160 music critics and journalists from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Last year, “Intizar, Songs of Longing” was chosen as one of the best albums of 2023 by the Dutch newspaper NRC.

SS/SAB