Bahramji & Mashti

BAHRAMJI aka Bahram Pourmand was born 1952 in the Persian city Kermanshah, in the Kurdish part Iran. Kermanshah is a small city in a beautifully location: surrounded by mountains, rivers and trees, it was therefore also called „the city of the kings“. Bahram grew up in a large family, in which there were many good musicians and singers. He therefore had contact to music at early age. As a child he heard the old Sufi melodies, which are still inspiration for him today. Bahrams musical career began at the age of 15 when his father, who plays the violin himself, gave him a Santoor. A good friend taught him the first steps on this traditional instrument and already soon he became such a virtuoso, that he already performed in public. After Bahram had lived 25 years in Iran, where he also went to school ending with a highschool diploma, he left the country in 1977, studied in and travelled to India and later to Europe. India became Bahrams new love. „India is the country of spirituality. Nature and people are wonderful - it changed my life.“ says Bahramji. By playing whirling music for restless globetrotters of most various cultures, his style changed and melted the traditional songs into a new form, creating a sphere refreshing the body and soul. His instrument is the Persian Santoor, a traditional string instrument, from which is said to be able to cause the tone of total emptiness. Besides the Santoor, he also began to play the Persian Settar and „Ney“, a Persian bamboo flute. He also began to sing in order to interpret the words of mystic poets such as Rumi, Saadi, Attar or Hafez. For a long time Bahramji studied the doctrines of the Sufi and also lived through the teachings. „I identify myself with my music - however not just only herewith. Today I am a musician and tomorrow … a cook.“ And a good cook he is. Bahramji continues to say: „I never commit myself to only one thing. I take life simply gratefully and with open heartily – just as it is. Whatever may come, I take it like it is, because it is good as it is.“ Bahram does not expect anything and this seems to be his secret. Nevertheless is music of greatest importance in his life. „In the life of the Sufi music is as important as air for breathing. Music is a power in our life, our greatest gift. It brings us laughter or tears - it feeds our spirit. Music is a universal language; music appears in all languages of the world, by mixing seven tones, which create millions of different melodies. Seven tones create the whole music world-wide, ever written and still to be written. Sufi music is a mental expression of divine love from the view of humans. The “Ney“ plays hereby an important role. It is a symbol for the human soul and a symbol for the Sufi soul, which swings along with it. Sufism is not a religion, but rather a way of life. The message is liberty of the soul, the love for each other and the love for nature. It’s about harmony, belief, love, and beauty. BAHRAMJI............................................................................... .............................................................................................. ............................................................................................................ MASHTI aka Mads Nordheim was born in Oslo - Norway the 13 June 1965, and was surounded with music from birth because of his father, the well known modern classical composer Arne Nordheim. When i was small our house was always filled with music, and the greatest classical musicians from all over the world came to our house to play and try out new things with my fathers new music pieces, and it was very inspiering to watch them work, i had the desire and loonging to only do music my whole life, when i was 6 my father gave me a drumkit for birthday, and after that i sarted to play piano, bass and percussion says Mashti. In 1979 Mashti moved to Copenhagen - Denmark where he got involved with the underground music scene as a keyborard player and bass player, but from the end of the 80..s he got totaly in to electronics, samples and computers for making music, he has been making music for documetaris movies, art instalations and cd..s, he has also been working as a DJ for the last 15 years in Denamark, Holland and India, and it was in India 6 years ago that he met Bahramji, I was a DJ and Soundman at a beach club in Goa, and i had to make sound for Bahramji, i had never met him before, but when he started to sing and play i knew right away that i had to make music with him, the loonging and beauty in his voice and playing was exatly what i felt, and thats how our beautiful journy of music and friendship started. He also worked like Bahramji as a cook for 8 year..s so there must be a connection between good music and good food :-) When i travel i always bring my studio with me, when you record in different countries with different musicians everything gets flavored by where in the world you are, and the energy that is there, somtimes you can almost smell and taste in the music, for me this is a procces that i love ! For me making Music is a way to stay sane in a insane world !!!!!!!! Fusion is the key to everything. MASHTI