2002
River Of Stars
(c) (p) 2000 Real Music
10tks/52mins

SHAHIN & SEPEHR

East / West Highway: The Best of Shahin & Sepehr

(p) (c) 2000 Higher Octave Music

18tks/73mins

More than an hour of this lambent guitar music with no doubt will not allow you to stay indifferent. It will dip you into a whirlpool of the fresh, light rhythms, penetrated by romance and genuine optimism. And the words "guitar music" are not quite correct, because not only Persian tunes are present in the music of the duet, but also you can hear the traditional folk instruments: santur with 72 strings (grandfather of the modern cembalo), percussion (tonbak drum) and shepherd's flute (ney). And everywhere in the melodies of Shahin and Sepehr there are live rhythms, there is taste of celebration. But even those qualities of their work are not the most important ones. The main is that the music is enormously real, natural. These are melodies of life, not of dying, of communication, not of anchoritism. "East / West Highway» is a music of wandering pilgrims, enjoying life, awaiting many new, unexpected meetings with friends and pleasant discoveries. It is a dance caused by overflowing of life.

"East / West Highway» consists of the best compositions of four solo albums of Shahin and Sepehr, released by the studio Higher Octave Music, considered as one of the most interested and biggest companies specialized on smooth jazz, instrumental and new age music. Music of this duet has got already a lot of amateurs all over the world not only due to albums recorded by Shahin and Sepehr, but also by their concert performances. It is interesting that after releasing in 1996 the third album of the duet, "Aria», the musicians took a two-year break and concentrated into solo appearances, making concerts in Europe and America with great success.

The collection of the best compositions of the duet the funs of Shahin and Sepehr will find a pleasant surprise: the musicians have performed their own variation (flamenco style) of the famous "Wild World" of Cat Stevens. Also they included into the album their new runaway passionate melody "Melting Heart".

"East / West Highway" belongs to the music in which West is mixed with East, melting into one cocktail of the new world music, where it turns to be impossible to segregate any private cultural tradition. This is music of the New World, freely expressing and celebrating life; it doesn't care to seem clever or to veil itself with a mystery.

"East / West Highway" is the melodies of open hearts.

Serge Kozlovsky