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Silver Lining

Kate Pass

Label: Independent Records
Released: 2021
Views: 819

Tracks

Black Mountain; Golden Crown; Little Black Fish; Silver Lining; Follow the Rain; Edge of Reason; Listening to Trees; Shifting Sands; Nava.

Personnel

Album Description

In a unique cohesion of elements from both non-traditional jazz and Persian music, the new album ‘Silver Lining’ by Kate Pass Kohesia Ensemble is a nod to the opportunities that have come from life in a pandemic. Led by double bassist Kate Pass, it’s the second album from Kohesia Ensemble, which features Pass’s original compositions as well as new works from Iranian/Australian instrumentalists Esfandiar Shahmir and Reza Mirzaei. The album emerged from a sell-out season at Perth’s (Australia) FRINGE WORLD Festival, where Kate Pass Kohesia Ensemble performed ‘Shahnameh: Songs of the Persian Book of Kings’. The performance was an interpretation of the 10th century Persian epic by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, chosen because of the powerful and emotional stories that invoke connection around the world. The textured and atmospheric sounds of the ensemble, as well as the emphasis on improvisation and story-telling through music, resonated with audiences and they were awarded the 2020 Martin Sims Award for best new Western Australian work “destined to succeed on the world’s stage”. The award came with a $10,000 prize, and ordinarily, this would have been used for international touring, but given the COVID-19 pandemic, Pass explored options that would allow them to re-purpose the prize money. “We decided to put the prize towards recording an album, which featured many of the songs from “Shahnameh: Songs of the Persian Book of Kings.” The inability to tour ended up having a silver lining, in that it enabled us to record an album.” ‘Silver Lining’ is the title of the first song that Pass wrote during the 2020 lockdown in Perth, Australia. The creative process of writing music for Pass has historically been motivated by upcoming performances or rehearsals. She regularly writes melodies on the setar, a traditional Persian stringed instrument, which complements the other Persian instruments featured within the ensemble. However, with stay-at-home orders as the nation came to terms with an evolving global pandemic, Pass suddenly had a far more comfortable process, writing for the sake of writing and exploring self-expression and reflection. With the disruption to lives and touring schedules, as well as concerns about the health and well-being of others internationally, Kohesia Ensemble has embraced the opportunity to slow down, rehearse, and, within the relative safety of Western Australia, tour regionally. They learned to enjoy the process of adapting to unexpected situations and changing plans, and to appreciate where they live and make music. And this album reflects this new outlook. A combination of composed and improvised parts, the album was recorded together in different rooms with video, rather than individually tracked. This enabled them to emphasise the sound of them playing live together, while still highlighting the sensitive sounds of the traditional instruments. Just like in the live performances, the songs feature individual instrumentalists and improvisation, with many of the songs on the album coming from their performance of ‘Shahnameh’. As the recording was only weeks after their FRINGE WORLD season, the ensemble were able to draw on the energy of live performance and familiarity of the songs that only comes from performing them night after night. The result is a creation of something new, rather than ‘fusing’ two genres, not strictly traditional Persian music, nor jazz, but something else entirely. A unique sound combining the sounds of Persian flute (ney), percussion (daf) lute (saz) and oud with jazz instruments that celebrates the energy and emotion of live performance. The combination could not be more relevant. With current political tensions across the Middle East, as well as an outpouring of empathy to the plights of people living in the region, John Hardaker from Australian Jazz says that the gift of Pass’s writing is “the conversational mix of Western and Middle- Eastern music... To hear these voices side-by-side, talking and twining together is an almost political call for hope – one where neither side sees the other as ‘the other.’” The album also features three tracks from Iranian/Australian musicians Esfandiar Shahmir and Reza Mirzaei, adding additional textures and layers, with Mirzaei performing on a modified saz (originally a Turkish instrument) to make it similar to a Persian setar. Kate’s interest in Persian music began when she joined a band called Daramad with Kohesia co- members Reza Mirzaei and Mike Zolker, as well as Saeed Danesh. After forming a band with Tehran- born vocalist Tara Tiba, Kate started to explore a convergence between Persian music and improvised jazz and went on to form Kohesia Ensemble. Kate released her debut album with Kohesia Ensemble in 2018, and has since won and been nominated for a slew of awards, as well as being the recipient of several grants and scholarships including the ECU Academic Excellence Scholarship, WAYJO Jack Bendat Travel Scholarship and ArtStart Australian Council for the Arts, which has enabled her to develop her career through performance and study in the USA and Europe at New York University and Conservatorium van Amsterdam. While this new album reflects on seeing the positives and opportunities from within, it is written (and recorded) with the audience and the live performance front and centre - making ‘Silver Lining’ an album that listeners can truely connect to.

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