Cinna Peyghamy - Music For Tombak & Synth (Other People) [World Music]
- The Slow Music Movement
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's July 7th Newsletter, where you can get all the tips (and more) first ***
It’s always worth keeping an eye on Nicholas Jaar’s Other People label, the scope is global and driven by curiosity rather than commerce. I probably would never have discovered the synth-loving, tombak playing Cinna Peyghamy any other way.
With a relatively short but impressive, more electronic music-focussed discogrophy, albeit with a polyrhythmic approach, he’s gone full on electroacoustic with this latest offering by putting his ancient Persian drum front and centre, whilst also introducing the evocative strings of the setar, some great clarinet courtesy of Quelque Bourdon, and not to mention some well-read Persian poetry by his father.
The album is a beguiling collision of past and present, (Middle) East meets West, and the first time Peyghamy has deeply explored rather than hinted at his heritage. The album starts with the sharper end of the drum’s palette, the slow minimal rhythm easing us into the LP nicely; well, until the tempo increases dramatically and is then consumed by the surrounding machines and ends up resembling more of a skittering, weekend-primed, minimal techno track. The deeper, warmer sound of the drum’s center are given a proper workout next, aided by similarly resonating machine frequencies as Peyghamy showcases his percussive dexterity and love of modular sound twisting; opening up a brave new world of world music and rave possibility and a fresh branch on the drum and bass continuum. And so the album winds through thick and thin, frenetic and thoughtful, along a culture-clashing, but ultimately uniting course.
Playlist Companion
Find Peyghamy in the End of Week Freak Playlist.
