Hani Mojtahedy, Andi Toma, Golfam Khayam, Nader Adabnejad, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Forbidden Echoes

Forbidden Echoes

In addition, Kurdish-Iranian singer Hani Mojtahedy, together with producer Andi Toma (Mouse on Mars) and arranger Ian Anderson, presents 'Forbidden Echoes', a poignant song cycle about loss and liberation. The basis of this work is the story of Shirin, a woman who hides in the mountains to mourn her lost love. The mountain in the Kurdish border area of Northern Iraq and Iran was later named after her: Jabal Shirin.

On that mountain, Mojtahedy sang Shirin's ancient Kurdish laments again, her voice echoing through the valley where countless victims of political struggle are buried. The echo reached the Iranian side of the mountains, where women are not allowed to sing solo, but only in choirs. In Amsterdam, Mojtahedy and Toma bring that echo back to life. While Toma creates an acoustic echo chamber with various microphones, Mojtahedy, just like Shirin once did in the mountains, sings her songs in the Muziekgebouw.