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The Jester Reviving… Music Moves in Mysterious Ways
Did you know that Sovereign album has an unofficial full title as “Sovereign, as sung by a jester” mentioned in its CD booklet? Now Gerald Van Waes at “Psyche Music” has added an interesting new angle to this concept:
It is a shame because here we hear a composer’s vision with an open mind, and with an open progressive sound and compositional evolution, the elements are free within its limitations, as if getting a professional vision trapped within an amateurish situation, the position of a joker amongst kings showing a different way, not able to lose its own small position. (Sovereign album Review, “Psyche Music”, Gerald Van Waes, Nov 2011)
Well… I guess this is obvious that I – as the composer of this album – am the jester (or joker[1]) reciting the story[2] and I truly have found myself in this “small” position… Actually it is not because I enjoy this position or not. It is how I have born – in Iran where even ordinary people prefer to mix myth and reality even in their daily matters… Maybe this is the same reason that made Ferdowsi to write “Book of the Kings” (Shahnameh) and then inspired me to record “Sovereign”… I guess it is worthwhile to mention the quote from Jean Cocteau, that is also put in Sovereign album’s booklet:
History consists of truths which in the end turn into lies, while myth consists of lies which finally turn into truth.
Respectively this jester/joker has also found himself singing in progressive rock genre in a country with no understanding or support of it. And as Gerald put it he is “trapped within an amateurish situation”…
But here lies a secret… As self-awareness makes one able to discover the whole wonder world within his self – letting him to make the myth, history.
Music moves in mysterious ways!
Listen to Sovereign album here. Thanks Gerald Van Waes at Psyche Music for opening up this perceptive!
[1] Don’t miss the song Joker at Abrahadabra album, which has become the highest rated song among all Arashk tracks on iTunes!
[2] Apart from the instrumental story of music there even exist a textual story at 2nd and 3rd pages of the booklet.
Come As You Are!
English: Welcome to my daydream: “Avant-garde ancient art-rock from Iran”
Russian: Добро пожаловать в мой сон наяву: “Авангардный исторический арт-рок из Ирана”
German: Willkommen zu meinem Tagtraum: “Avant-garde historischer Art-Rock aus dem Iran”
Romanian: Bine aţi venit în visul meu: “Art-rock antic de avangardă din Iran”
Italian: Benvenuti nel mio sogno ad occhi aperti: “Antico art rock d’avanguardia dall’Iran”
Danish: Velkommen til min dagdrøm: “Forhistorisk avantgarde kunstrock fra Iran”
Bulgarian: Добре дошли в моя блян: “Авангарден древен арт-рок от Иран”
Dutch: Welkom bij mijn dagdroom: “Avant-garde ancient art-rock uit Iran”
Swedish: Välkommen till min dagdröm: “Avantgardistisk forntida artrock från Iran”
Polish: Witam w moim śnie na jawie: “awangardowy starożytny art-rock z Iranu”
Norwegian: Velkommen til min dagdrøm: “Avantgarde eldgammel art-rock fra Iran”
Serbian: Dobrodošli u moj san na javi: “Avangardni drevni art-rok iz Irana”
Esperanto: Jen mia revo: “Avangarda antivka artrokmuziko el Irano”
Ukrainian: Ласкаво прошу в мій сон наяву: “Авангардний історичний арт-рок з Ірану”.
Greek: Καλώς ήρθατε στην ονειροπόληση μου: “Η ελίτ της προγενέστερης ροκ τέχνης από το Ιράν”
Farsi: ![]()
Serbian: Dobrodošli u moj san na javi: “Avangardni drevni art-rok iz Irana”
Hebrew: ![]()
Lithuanian: Sveiki atvykę į mano svajonę: “Avangardinis senovinis artrokas iš Irano”
Slovene: Dobrodošli v moja sanjarjenja: “Avantgardni starinski art rock iz Irana”.
Am I a Maniac?
Honestly, I think I have all the symptoms recited in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mania So I think I am eligible to be known as a “Maniac”. But the best part is that – in my opinion – they are all positive characteristics…
Mania has often been thought of as the opposite of depression. It is usually a feeling of well-being, energy and optimism. These feelings can get so intense that the person loses contact with reality. When this happens the person believes in strange things about their personality and they can often act in embarrassing ways and can sometimes even act in dangerous ways.
I think I depicted “losing contact with reality” at my best in Iconophobic album as I said
I don’t know if Iconophobia is really a psychological problem but I liked the idea of morbid alienation toward images, icons and in general, reality.
Meanwhile Sea of Tranquility e-zine has called my Iconophobic album containing “claustrophobic visions” or having an “impression is of an aching emptiness” as a “strong statement from my life in my home city of Tehran”.
Generally I don’t know if this is a prevalent condition among musicians or not… But in the meantime I think for creating such an abstract art like music, I had to balance those odd qualities with unusual amounts of “feeling of well-being, energy and optimism”. Actually to me those are all ways of surviving and breathing in the realm which our eyes perceive as The World – as weird, dark and bright it seems all at once…
Iconophobic is my world and I love it; however dangerous it maybe as DPRP webzine calls: “You need to tread carefully if you are entering the Iconophobic world of Salim Ghazi Saeedi. You have been warned.”



