DESCRIPTION:
Sami Yusuf’s composition ‘Veritas’ premiered at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam
as part of his concert series ‘When Paths Meet’.
From the minimal and ethereal sound of the intro,
it subtly transitions to a sense of awe at the astonishing majesty and multiplicity of creation.
The Persian-influenced musical phrasing of Sami Yusuf’s vocalisations
in the intro are inspired by the Daramad of Avaz-e dashti,
a subgroup of the Shur dastgah, a Persian modal system evocative of a meditative state.
Cappella Amsterdam sings quarter tones here and they do so brilliantly.
The flamenco and Andalusian sounds of the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra interplay
with Western classical elements and the vibrant Arabic maqam Bayati.
When the mode shifts to the passionate yearning of maqam Nahawand,
its similarity to the Western classical minor scale brings an effortless resonance between the two.
The outro joins Bayati and a harmonic minor scale in a multi-faceted,
fiery expression of multiple, even contradictory states of being,
while the vocalists insist,
‘Veritas’, ‘Veritas’ – Truth, Truth – and cast our focus beneath the turbulent surface storms
to the calm depths below.
CREDITS:
Composed and arranged by Sami Yusuf
Mode: Shur with allusions to Nahāwand
Sami Yusuf & Ensemble:
Sami Yusuf: Vocal
Ömer Avci: Bendir
Eyüpcan Açikpazu: Ney
Hasan Hekimoglu: Oud
Onur Cicin: Qanun
Guo Gan: Erhu
Seyyed Mohammad Jaberi: Daf
Huseyin Can Pala: Baglama
Mahyar Toreihi: Santoor
Jon Lawton: Guitar
Cappella Amsterdam:
Soprano: Sanda Audere, Elisabeth Blom, Marijke van der Harst
Alto: Hebe de Champeaux, Irene Sorozabal, Inga Schneider
Tenor: Jon Etxabe Arzuaga, Jelle Leistra, Diederik Rooker
Bass: Jan Douwes, Angus van Grevenbroek, Johan Vermeer
Production: Francesca Thompson
