Mahan Mirarab
Mahan Mirarab is an Iranian/Austrian guitarist, composer, arranger and music producer based in Vienna and Berlin.
He has spent years learning about Persian traditional music as well as the indigenous sound and cultures of the country such as Arabic, African, Turkish, Kurdish, eta., while refining his skills in Jazz, western classic and popular music. Notably using fretless guitar, he specialises in blending the microtonal systems with jazz and improvised music.
He is among some of the most innovative minds in Iran who has redefined music in their culture despite the challenges facing musicians after the Iranian revolution. His work throughout 21 years is creating a new generation of musicians, who are being inspired and influenced by his guitar playing and compositions.
His aim is to introduce a new narrative through music in regards to middle eastern cultures and jazz and in doing so he has succeeded to create his complex yet approachable style.
No submissions for Beyond Music Project Volume 4.
collateral damage is a semi-instrumental song that expresses the cry, the tears and the despair of children in times of war or when there is conflict between the Beligerents. a spiritual request, the cries of the tears of children, victims of wars and conflicts of all kinds in the world, which call for help. protect them from all these scourges. I am winking here at child soldiers and who are enlisted in the armed forces, only want to go to school to learn to be the future executives of tomorrow in our society.
The lyric of this song was inspired by an Afghan mother and her six-month-old daughter, Bahar. I met them in a refugee camp. The mother's eyes, though devastated by the traumas of the road, suddenly lit up with life and power as she told me about an incident on a boat where she thought she is going to lose her baby. She held Bahar tight with so much joy and in the midst of devastation and despair, I felt how this motherly love could overcome it all. The feeling was raw, intuitive, and universal. It was elegantly heartbreaking but hopeful.
In 2006 a nine year old child with her family among to the trip of ZABOL decapitated. Her beautiful smile even after beheading causes that she called Tabassum (meaning smile in Farsi) and every year she is taken alive. We know that every war has it's own destructive effects, especially for innocent children, the main victims of war. Children in war-torn countries, are borning without even the basic human rights and they see just violence of war in front of their eyes. This song is dedicated to the children of war, like Tabassum.
This piece is about the desire to feel free. A kind of freedom that is experienced in the body. A kind that comes through self-love. Also, a kind that is the result of transformation through our old habits. Habits that are the root of so many of our conflicts. The desire to overcome the conflicts, by seeing the boundaries of fear, hatred, and pain and find a way to go through them with communication. Music is one of the strongest forms of communication. This song, therefore, floats like a mountain river to bring the energy for transformation.
This song expresses the courage to embrace our most powerful selves. A power that is awakened through conflicts we all might find ourselves trapped into. Conflicts, sometimes so complex and chronic, that could consume our life energies generation after generation. In facing conflicts we tend to get small and suppress our life force. Here we embrace this force. Not to be destructive but rather be transformative. As a way out of the conflict, we rearrange and reconstruct by being our most powerful selves. With compassion and courage. So, Let the
No submissions for Beyond Music Project Volume 2.
No submissions for Beyond Music Project Volume 1.