What an honor it was to witness Voices Unveiled, a project by Los Angeles-based Iranian composer, producer, and santoor virtuoso Ehsan Matoori. This project seeks to showcase the beautiful voices of Iranian women who are not allowed to sing solo in public in their homelands. Maliyah Moradi and Mina Deris, both renowned vocalists in their respective places, graced the Cowell Theatre stage both as solo acts and in harmony with one another.
While I do not understand this beautiful language, I could still feel the deep emotions expressed through each vocal inflection. The lyrics of the songs performed were inspired by poets, blending the complex emotions of love, exile, hope, and longing. As noted in the press release for this show, “Matoori’s compositions bring these texts to life through a musical language that merges Persian tradition with international instrumentation – featuring santoor, bass, clarinet, and percussion.”
It was, indeed, and interesting blend of instruments that worked harmoniously with one another. The violinist, who was the newest member of the group, sang with the clarinet. In some instances, it was difficult to decipher which instrument was which as they conversed with one another. At some instances, the composition had notes of traditional jazz inflections – as each instrumentalist was given the space to experiment and have their own powerful solos at different instances of the show.
Voices Unveiled itself was broken up into three parts: the lead singers had their 30-minute solos, there was a 30 minute break where the bassist and drummer performed a Spanish ballad then were joined by the remaining band shortly after, and the final 30 minutes saw both vocalists singing side-by-side.
The only minor downside of this performance was that it was advertised as a bilingual show. Almost all of the show was in their mother tongue which was barely an issue since it provided a full immersion of this culture. However, in certain instances where the artists on stage spoke to the audience about certain moments in the show, I would have loved to join in on the laughter and understand the deeper meaning of the music. Not to say that this hindered my listening experience – quite the contrary. I found a new appreciation of how much music brings people together.
Learn more about this program through the composer’s website.
