Kefaya & Elaha Soroor - Songs of Our Mothers, album review

Beautiful Tradition

Afghan singer Elaha Soroor and music / producer duo Kefaya (Al MacSween and Giuliano Modarelli) produce a sweet to jazzy album of core Afghan folk songs that incorporate traditional instruments with, for example, punchy bass as well as sax on opener Jama Narenji.

Soroor sings in a beautifully emotive Farsi mother language, carrying stories of hardship and struggle through that beauty, as she has described,

'In the eyes of the world, Afghan identity is defined by terrorism, war, the Taliban and uneducated, domesticated women who need help. I have tried to show other associations with Afghanistan such as the beauty of my mother language (Farsi) and the diversity of our music. Although women are currently facing extreme violence in Afghanistan, I see a lot of similar problems encountered in different ways in Western countries and across the world. This is part of a universal struggle.'

Other artists on the album include Mohsen Namjoo (voice), Manos Achalinotopolous (clarinet), Yazz Ahmed (flugelhorn), Sarathy Korwar (tabla/dolak), Tamar Osborn (baritone sax), Sardor Mirzakhojaev (dambura), Gurdain Singh Rayatt (tabla), Jyotsna Srikanth (violin), Camilo Tirado (live electronics) and Sam Vickary (double bass).

All the songs convey a deep sense of tradition and culture – and a musical transcendence to embrace within a wide context – and this leads to the gorgeous closer Laylay Laylay.