Kjersti Kveli and young Iranian women Voices // Growing Songs

The popular Iranian artist Mahsa Vahdat and seven of her

students have cultivated these songs. Henning Sommerro

has arranged them as duets between the students and the

Norwegian singer Kjersti Kveli. You can hear the result on the

new album “Growing Songs”.

There are oases of songs in Iran. The tyrannical regime has created

a climate that has desiccated the musical landscape. No women are

allowed to blossom with their colourful voices. In the middle of this

barren landscape Mahsa Vahdat has created an oasis, a fertile garden

where she and her students can grow songs. The oasis has branches

reaching out from Iran to Iranian diasporas around the world.

Now you can find a selection of the songs they have grown on a music

release from KKV. When you open this herbarium and listen to the

songs Mahsa and her students have grown, you will discover their

beauty and understand how they manage to preserve and develop

Iran’s ancient musical garden.

But you will not only hear Iranian singers and the Persian language on

this album as

a unique Norwegian musical talent is also participating. Her name is

Kjersti Kveli, a singer from the Norwegian region of Snåsa. She is a

rare mixture of a folk music traditionist and singer/songwriter. Henning

Sommerro has composed melodies based on the Persian material but

adapted for Kjersti’s voice.

The original texts have been written by contemporary Iranian poets

such as Forough Farrokhzad, Houshang Ebtehaj and classical poets

such as Hafez and Rumi. Mahsa Vahdat and Erik Hillestad have

rendered them into Norwegian for Kjersti Kveli. The theme is the

enigmatic paths of love and the mysteries of life.

Henning accompanies on piano with Gjermund Silset on bass and the

Iranian flute player Mehdi Teymoori. When listening to the music you

will discover how the flowers Mahsa and her students have grown can

become beautiful bouquets together with the singers and musicians

from two cultures.

The seven students, all with backgrounds from Iran, are Adrienne

Shamzad, Sally Kheirandish, Elana Sasson, Yasaman, Emma, Shay and

Kiana. They live in Norway, Iran, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and

the USA. They have selected the poems and collaborated with Mahsa

on shaping the melodies.

The album has been produced by Mahsa Vahdat and Erik Hillestad and

recorded and mixed by the latter. The project is part of a long-term

music education project established and led by Mahsa Vahdat. This part

of it is funded by Arts and Culture Norway.