Hayeli: Home

Hayeli is the moniker of Lebanese double bassist Donna Khalife and Armenian double bassist Khachatur Savzyan, partners in life as in music. Khalifé is held in high esteem as one of the most progressive voices on Beirut's jazz and improvised music scene—a reputation her highly original self-produced albums Heavy Dance (2017) and Hope is the Thing with Feathers (2019) strongly support. In addition to her conservatoire study in Paris—and like most bassists in the Lebanese capital—she also studied with Savzyan, whose Armenian roots give their debut album its title. In Armenian Hayeli means mirror, and the music herein is a reflection of two souls' love of unbridled creativity. All but two of the titles are improvised dialogues, enhanced by violist Guillaume Roy , cellist Sary Khalifé and a little post-production polish.

It is telling that the opening music of "Home" is local bird song, as this album celebrates place, belonging and essence. Field recordings of nature pepper the set— yin to the music's yang. Owl calls accompany Khalifé's wordless vocals and Roy's viola churn on "Petit Accent," a folksy immersion of timeless feel; chirping birds gently usher in "Current Situation," where her wordless vocals soar over multi-part choral waves and a rich tapestry of plucked strings and bowed legato lines. And while it may be tempting to interpret the minute of canine howling and barking that constitutes "Chacal" as an allegory for political predators, it could just as easily celebrate free spirits everywhere represented by Lebanon's roaming jackals.

In the bowed playing—present on every track—Khalifé's and Savzyan's classical influences shine. While bass pulses and probing lines are abundant, it is the arco work, whether paired with plucked textures or in harmonized interplay, that tends to dominate. Overlapping arco drones, trilling and sawing techniques take precedence over extended solos, though Sary Khalifé's emotive cello improvisation on the Arabic-sung "Saffara"—based on a poem by the renowned Lebanese poet Mohamad Al Abdalla—is a delight.

Only "This Is What Happened" is devoid of vocals—a brief but deeply lyrical exchange where the separate plucked and arco identities are heard to the clearest effect. Poetry, a central passion of Khalifé's, shapes "Then Why Do We Persist," an experimental-sounding mixture of spoken-word and song. Similarly, "Marcus Aurelius," Khalifé's recitation of the Roman emperor's Stoic philosophy, poetically explores the sovereign self and the value of self-reflection. Aurelius' meditation on our oneness with nature is echoed in the final track, "Wholeness," where fluty owl cries and cicada pulses merge with the harmonious entwining of bass lines and the duo's lilting wordless song. The birds, fittingly, have the final say.

From Socrates onwards, the idea of home has ignited philosophical reflection—family, house, environment, country, freedom to or from. But perhaps, for Khalifé and Savzyan, home is in the act of making music. A highly personal and stimulating collaboration, Hayeli sings to individuality, unity and freedom.