Jazz Album ‘Amiira’ Released

TEHRAN. (Iranart) jazz album ‘Amiira,’ produced by a famous trio of international musicians has recently been released by the Tehran-based Hermes Records.

Klaus Gesing, 49, German player of bass clarinet and soprano saxophone; Bjorn Meyer, 52, Swedish electric bass guitarist; and Samuel Rohrer, 40, Swiss percussionist, composed and released the album originally in 2016, according to musiceiranian.ir, a local website on music events.

The original release was in collaboration with the Arjunamusic records, a Berlin based independent platform for electronic and acoustic music founded in 2012. It was recorded and mixed between March and December 2015 in Bern, Switzerland.

Amiira is created in the ambience of jazz and blues, but it may also be considered as experimental music.

The album consists of ten tracks, totaling 46 minutes, their lengths ranging from under two to over eight-and-a-half minutes. Apart from “Sirenes Sacrées,” by the late Armenian composer Khachatur Avetisyan (1926-1996), all the tracks were composed and arranged by the trio, with Gesing getting sole credit for the first two.

No one player obviously leads the other two, but the three of them collectively create the soundscape together, as if by instinct, without any glaringly obvious pre-planning or communication.

The trio first came together in 2013 when they released their only previous recording ‘Open Source Music.’

Before they joined forces, each of the three had had years of experience playing various styles of music. Their intention to collaborate was to help dissolve the borders between improvisation and composition.

Less than a year since the trio began, they had performances in Austria and Switzerland. In October 2014, they staged a free performance at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall. The event was hosted by Ramin Sadiqi, director of Hermes Records.

However, compared to his band mates, bass guitarist Bjorn Meyer has been more active in Iran. He is known by music fans in Iran as he has traveled here several times with different groups and held concerts.

In July last year, he joined Iranian oud player Shahram Gholami for two duet performances at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center.

Meyer toured Iran thrice as a member of the Swedish folk music band Bazar Bla, the last time in September 2016.