Drawing upon the currents of his homeland, Ashkan Shafiei’s music embodies the psychedelic nature of pre-revolution Iran.
While singing in farsi, Ashkan’s music can be felt intuitively; with an aura of mystery, longing and beauty. He plays the rubab, which was gifted to him by friends before moving here. The rubab is known as the national instrument of Afghanistan; the earliest records of it are found in 10th century Arabic texts and it is often mentioned in the poetry of Sufi mystics.
“I think this instrument evolved like any other instrument, but at some point, it stopped evolving, it feels like you're in an ancient time when you play… I wish everyone could feel what I feel when I play it, I feel it with my whole body.”
The rubab is one of the key features of Ashkan’s latest EP Hunter. Its sound synergises Iranian melodies, horn sections and textured basslines, immersing the listener in an almost post-funk fusion, full of intrigue and reverence. Such Iranian melodies reference the Dastgah System, a musical mode system not common in western music, but still resonant through Ashkan’s jazz-funk sensibilities.
“I tried to capture different things in the EP, I wanted it to be rhythmically diverse. We’ve got 7/8, 6/8, 4/4 on Hunter which is an odd time signature…I wanted it to tell my story, me growing up in Iran, moving to Tehran, studying and listening to different genres of music from jazz to Afro-Cuban music.”
There is a certain mythos attached to Hunter. Whether it be the Rubab or Ashkan’s choice to sing in Farsi, at times melismatic - which can be heard as both a voice and an instrument. A sonic time capsule of sorts.
Ashkan honors the legacy of those silenced or displaced artists through his music. It is this mythos that draws upon the forbidden and the lost; both a window into an alternate past and a symbol of resistance.
Words by Tommy Boutros