Cyminology - The Very TCK German Jazz Band
Last month I got a push notification for a concert by Cyminology, hosted by Goethe-Institut Pakistan, the cultural institute of Germany with chapters across the world. Being a country starved for live Jazz music, I forwarded the link onto some friends, ordered the tickets and decided to go in blind, as I didn’t have time to listen to them in advance.
As soon as I heard the introduction to the jazz quartet, I knew they would be a good listen. Cyminology is Berlin-based and merges Persian poetry with chamber music. A little bit of background: Persia is the predominant ethnic group of modern-day Iran, and I feel that one of its greatest exports has been their poetry. Chamber music is a classical music form composed from a small group of instruments.
The mix was mesmerizing.
The quartet has performed poetry by Rumi, Hafiz, and Khayyam, some of the most renowned Persian poets, with quartet members accompanying the lyrics by playing the piano, double bass, and drums. The lead singer was also given some poetry by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, one of Pakistan’s most celebrated Urdu authors, which she prepared and performed live for us. Even though the script of both Urdu and Persian is the same, the language is very different, which highlights the quartet’s linguistic prowess.
The lead singer is Cymin Samawatie, who was born in Germany to Iranian immigrant parents. She studied classical music at the University of Music and Drama, Hanover, followed by jazz vocals at the University of Arts, Berlin. Much like a previous TCK Town Hero we have written about, Freddie Mercury (or Farrokh Bulsara, another musician who traced their roots to Persia), Cymin has been influenced greatly by her country of birth and the country her family immigrated from. She has many other achievements to her name, including the provision of musical education to young refugees in Berlin and co-curating and musically directing the Female Voice of Iran festival, and the female voice of the Iran Orchestra. Her motivation is to bridge cultures, genres and styles through music.
The rest of the quartet is as diverse, having roots in India, France and Germany. Ketan Bhatti, who was on the drums in the performance, was also introduced as having his family lineage from Lahore, Pakistan. It was great to see someone we consider ‘a local’ coming back to our ancestral home to perform.
Cyminology and their work is indicative of the truly global nature of music, and how it cuts across cultures. The experimentation taking place with poetry, instruments and musical styles show that music and poetry practices across cultures can be complementary in creating a syncretic and dynamic approach to the art form. I for one, shall continue to look for such musical ventures to ad to my playlist.
Have you seen music cut across cultures through their lyrics, instruments or forms? Use the comments to let me know which artists you think I should be listening to next!
Learn more:
Here’s a bit of background on Cyminology.
Check out this review of Cyminology’s third release, Phoenix.
Watching Cyminology performing at the Faiz Festival, Lahore, last month.
