Sama – Seyed Amrollah Shahebrahimi

Sama is the only official recording left by Seyed Amrollah Shahebrahimi: a valuable work that, many years after it was recorded, is still regarded as one of the most important sources for knowing the authentic tanbur style of the Sahneh region and of Yarsan music.

The album contains 13 solo and maqam pieces (maqams are the melodic-modal pieces of the tanbur repertoire), which the master plays in his own pure, calm and deep mood. There is no technical showmanship in Sama; everything rests on the purity of the maqams, inner rhythm, control of dynamics and a spiritual tone. In these performances Shahebrahimi presents the old maqams with their original authenticity and traditional structure, without adding modern colouring and without leaving the maqam world of Sahneh.

The album matters not only for the master’s playing but because it documents his way of performing. Many fine details of the Sahneh school – such as the kind of plectrum stroke, the observance of particular intervals, meaningful silences and the subtle passage from one gusheh (melodic section) to the next – can be heard clearly in this collection.

For lovers of the tanbur, Sama is not only a music album but a teaching resource and a historical document: a bridge between the old generation of tanbur masters and the teachings his students later passed on to new generations.

Label: Mahoor Institute of Culture and Arts, 1998 (series Regional Music of Iran, vol. 11: Sama’ Music from Kermanshahan, Sahneh)