"This album is my offering
To every sunrise that lifts us,
To every sunset that humbles us,
To the fragile beauty of each passing light we live to witness,
And to the countless souls
Whose dawns and dusks
Were stolen by cruel wars."
SABA ALIZADEH - Rituals Of The Last Dawn (LP) (2026)
I'm trying to diet concerning live shows and new music purchases right now, but it's not always easy. And here's the one temptation of last week's Bandcamp Friday I couldn't possibly resist, because it immediately spoke to me so strongly.
On his fourth album Iranian kamancheh virtuoso and Experimental musician Saba Alizadeh returns to Karlrecords, where he released his debut "Scattered Memories", an astounding tribute to the city of Tehran. He continued with two albums on 30M Records, his most introspective and Avantgarde work "I May Never See You Again" and - inspired by the brutally shattered Woman Life Peace movement -"Temple Of Hope". Now once again he comes with high ambitions, yet an actually less tangible conceptual foundation than on these predecessors - albeit with all the more power of both raw and complex immersive expression.
"Rituals Of The Last Dawn" consists of two long-form pieces recorded in the Netherlands and Belgium, "First Ritual" and "Last Ritual", each conceived with one musical partner: Pietro Caramelli on guitar and electronics on side A and Liew Niyomkam on lap steel guitar and electronics on side B.
Most of their contribution lies in providing a deeply atmospheric Ambient backdrop and congenial accompaniment to Alizadeh, who fully concentrates on pouring out his soul through the spike fiddle.
The resulting music delivers what the artist's dedication on the albums's backcover promised. This is the sound of concurrent tears and joy, devastation and hope in the face of cruelty and grace, small incidents and overarching fate, a prism and kaleidoscopic mirror of every aspect of the human experience the listener might put into it.
And that's ultimately one of the greatest gifts music has to offer: To be a voice beyond the limits of verbal communication or even formulated thought. Through the rich viola-like wail and metallic overtone of its steel strings Alizadeh's Persian instrument just speaks directly to the heart with an emotional truth and intensity you far from encounter on a daily basis.
Through light and dark you can fully entrust yourself to these rituals of unbounded beauty!
On his fourth album Iranian kamancheh virtuoso and Experimental musician Saba Alizadeh returns to Karlrecords, where he released his debut "Scattered Memories", an astounding tribute to the city of Tehran. He continued with two albums on 30M Records, his most introspective and Avantgarde work "I May Never See You Again" and - inspired by the brutally shattered Woman Life Peace movement -"Temple Of Hope". Now once again he comes with high ambitions, yet an actually less tangible conceptual foundation than on these predecessors - albeit with all the more power of both raw and complex immersive expression.
"Rituals Of The Last Dawn" consists of two long-form pieces recorded in the Netherlands and Belgium, "First Ritual" and "Last Ritual", each conceived with one musical partner: Pietro Caramelli on guitar and electronics on side A and Liew Niyomkam on lap steel guitar and electronics on side B.
Most of their contribution lies in providing a deeply atmospheric Ambient backdrop and congenial accompaniment to Alizadeh, who fully concentrates on pouring out his soul through the spike fiddle.
The resulting music delivers what the artist's dedication on the albums's backcover promised. This is the sound of concurrent tears and joy, devastation and hope in the face of cruelty and grace, small incidents and overarching fate, a prism and kaleidoscopic mirror of every aspect of the human experience the listener might put into it.
And that's ultimately one of the greatest gifts music has to offer: To be a voice beyond the limits of verbal communication or even formulated thought. Through the rich viola-like wail and metallic overtone of its steel strings Alizadeh's Persian instrument just speaks directly to the heart with an emotional truth and intensity you far from encounter on a daily basis.
Through light and dark you can fully entrust yourself to these rituals of unbounded beauty!
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