Silent Whispers
Notes from the Composer
Grammy Nominated producer/engineer Elliot Lanam who added countless love, passion & emotion to this album. I am very glad for collaborating with him. My brother Mazy Karandish who has been exceptional on various tracks by adding the beauty of Oud, Sitar and Saz to my tracks…Three difficult instruments that not many musicians have mastered like he has done.
Eric Zang for his amazing musicianship and performance on the Turkish Kaval and percussion on numbers of tracks and his overall contribution to this project. I’m also fortunate to benefit from amazing top notch musicians such as Farzin Farhadi, Ali Sanaie, Dave Haddad, Erfan Nazemzadeh, Reza Filsoofi, Sherif Sherifov & of-course Pouya Pourtahmasbi in this album. Our mission in this album was to treat every track and every single note with love and passion. Beethoven once said a wrong note in a performance is forgivable but a note played without passion is absolutely not. This album is entirely dedicated to the loving memory of my father Dr. Abdolali Karandish. I regret he is not here today to hear my music… He was the one who fully and wholeheartedly supported my music since many years ago. This Album is a humble tribute to all music lovers who believe music surpasses all lines, languages and boundaries and can unite all humanity…
Kaveh Karandish, October 19th, 2017 Arizona
Reviews of Silent Whispers
Album Remarks by Elliot Lanam, Grammy Nominee Producer of Silent Whispers:
I have been fortunate enough to work on hundreds of albums over the last ten years and I can easily say this was one of my favorite records I’ve ever worked on. There are so many elements to this record that make it shine, from the outstanding musicianship to the beautiful compositions and authenticity to culture. The brainchild of composer and pianist Kaveh Karandish, this record is a spectacle of tradition meeting modern-day production, all while encompassing the listener in emotion and entrancement. His communication style translates through his music evoking feelings of passion, romance, despondence, and inspiration. This very inspiration is what drove the production on the album – harnessing Karandish’s creative vision and reinforcing the emotion he expresses. Each song tells a story, but the beauty of the record is that the story is different for every listener.
With an eclectic range of instrumentation, Karandish’s record utilizes a wide spectrum of musicality, from sitars to kavals, flutes to ouds – each offering their own texture and musicianship to accompany it. Bringing in professionals from around the globe, each song features multiple musicians, making it truly a world record. In regards to the compositions, Karandish’s progressions do not abide by the limits of standards or tradition – his voice flows through his hands in progressions that are unbound by normality or predictability. He constantly keeps the listener on their toes, teaching them to always expect the unexpected.
This album evolves with time, parallel with Karandish’s compositions, to reach a sense of fulfillment and embodiment by the end of the record. He teaches us to grow as not only listeners, but as participants in life through love, family, and friendship. Music is just one of the mediums for this expression and through inspiration and focus, we can grow as humans to better understand one another’s feeling and emotion. Karandish perfectly captures this translation in his music, opening our ears, heart, and mind to be more than just listeners – but participants as well. Keep an eye out for more beautiful music to come from Kaveh Karandish and enjoy the record that we put our love and emotion into!
Album Remarks by Multi-Instrumentalist and Featured Artist Mazy Karandish
Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy
These words carry a timeless message that still echoes through to this day. Music has the power to evoke the deepest emotions, memories, and nostalgia that the human psyche is capable of experiencing. The evocation of such feelings could not be more true when it comes the music that Kaveh Karandish has created. It has been a true honor for me to work with Kaveh, who I am fortunate to call my brother. The greatest part about working with him is that the music has a wide range of cultural expression. One song could transport you to far off landscapes of the Orient while another brings you to the sophisticatedcivilization of the west. In this way, the music transcends a single time, place, and culture but rather captures musical expression from a global perspective. As a multi-instrumentalist covering grounds from Raga and Maqam to Harmony and Jazz, there is nothing I appreciate more than working with a composer who has such global perspective and can capture multiple traditions with a single melody line. Kaveh was very skillful at understanding which instruments work best with which songs. This is incredibly important as ethnic instruments are specially touching when used in accordance to a tasteful arrangement.
You could hear Indian Dilruba, Turkish Saz, Persian Oud, and Indian Sitar (popularized by Ravi Shankar) throughout the album to varying degrees. Given the versatile nature of the Oud and the fact that it used in many cultures around the world, Kaveh felt that this instrument could be most heavily utilized throughout multiple track. I could not agree more! Oud has the same tonal range as Cello and can very easily mesh with thesounds of piano, flute, bass, and other instruments. In addition, the Indian Sitar is used in a particularly interesting way on Shiraz Nights which happens to be my favorite track of the album. Shiraz Nights takes the listener back to an ancient time when trade and interaction was at an all time high between the Persian and Indian worlds, and therefore takes the listener on a cultural journey. In addition to his incredible composition ability, Kaveh has a big heart and is always interested in show-casing other artists on his album. He creates an environment for musicians to express themselves in a genuine way. This is a truly incredible quality as it enables authenticity and brings greater richness to all of the songs on the album. I am very grateful to have been one of many musicians to contribute to this album and look forward to future collaborations.