John collaberation w/ Reza Derakshani

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Densmore has also expanded the global reach of his music by collaborating with Persian-music master Reza Derakshani, producing and playing on the latter's forthcoming album, Ray of the Wine.

"I met Reza and immediately thought, what an incredibly talented, extremely shy, charismatic Persian musician. He was playing all these exotic instruments and singing in Farsi," Densmore remembers.

"I knew he was in New York and the next time I was there I went to his really small East Side apartment," the drummer adds. "I walked in and he handed me a Daf, a hand drum; I put it between my legs, which is not the right way to play it, and we started improvising. As I wrote in his liner notes, we didn't speak much, but volumes were said."

After the music and some discussion of the space between their two worlds, says Densmore, "The room was glowing and we had tea. He asked me if I would take his music and arrange it with my Western influences. He trusted me because of my background." Densmore found a trusted group of musicians, and when Reza came to L.A., they got to work. Ray of the Wine was recorded in three days.

Once again, John Densmore had found the heartbeat.



Reza Derakshani: Reza - Ray of the Wine

A virtuoso of classical Persian music, Reza asked legendary "Doors" drummer John Densmore to arrange his music to span East and West, combining global and devotional styles with jazz, rock and other modern forms

This singer, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist was born and raised in Iran, lived in New York for over 20 years, and presently resides in Tehran.

* He has collaborated with such artists as John Densmore of The Doors, Madonna, Branford Marsalis, poet-philosopher Robert Bly, author Deepak Chopra and choreographer Bill T. Jones, among many others.

* RAY OF THE WINE was produced by Densmore, who also played drums, and features a stellar international ensemble of players.

* A virtuoso of classical Persian music, Reza asked Densmore to arrange his music to span East and West, combining global and devotional styles with jazz, rock and other modern forms.

* RAY OF THE WINE's blend of Persian, Moroccan, African, Indian and Western music is at once earthy, mystical and seductive, as traditional rigor meets improvisational freedom and complex, passionate melodies couple with relentless grooves.

* Reza is a master of traditional Persian stringed instruments like the Tar, Sehtar and the bowed Tarmanche and Kamanche, as well as the bamboo flute known as the Ney and the Daf, a hand drum.

* He has performed for rapturous crowds in the U.S., France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Canada, Iran, Morocco and the Republic of Georgia.

* He composed the theme music for director Bahman Kiarostami's highly anticipated documentary Koffar (Infidels) and is arranging the soundtrack.

* He collaborated with cellist-vocalist Dawn Buckholz Avery on the acclaimed 2001 album Water From the Well, a Best Album pick from WNYC.

* A gifted painter, Reza created the cover art for RAY OF THE WINE; his work hangs in galleries and private collections around the world.

Buy it here...
www.cdbaby.com/cd/reza

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Reza Derakshani: The Ray of the Wine

Ray of The Wine's blend of Persian, Moroccan, African, Indian and Western music is at once earthy, mystical and seductive, as traditional rigor meets improvisational freedom and complex, passionate melodies couple with relentless grooves. Reza is a master of traditional Persian stringed instruments like the Tar, Sehtar and the bowed Tarmanche and Kamanche, as well as the bamboo flute known as the Ney and the Daf, a hand drum. The CD was produced by The Door's drummer John Densmore, who also played drums, and features a stellar international ensemble of players.
Henhouse Store reviews.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

'Peaceful Sounds From 'the Axis Of Evil'': The Middle East Meets West On Ray Of The Wine

Not everything is strife and buggery between the Middle East and the United States, and leave it to Doors drummer John Densmore to show us the light - or rather, the Ray. He has produced what Hen House Studios founder and President Harlan Steinberger calls "a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful record."

Not that Steinberger is biased or anything, just because his Venice, Calif., based music recording and film complex is uncorking Ray of the Wine, on Feb. 1, the highly anticipated Hen House Studios debut from renowned Persian-American multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist Reza.

Reza observes, "The fact that a Persian musician worked with one of The Doors is a big deal."

Think of this historical pairing as the Middle East meets West in the Hen House where the quintessential American rock musician's mandate was to westernize the arrangements of the Persian folk and classical music that Reza, a longtime New Yorker, has been wanting to bring stateside. The emphasis track, "Ray of the Wine," is already making a splash at Triple A radio.

Densmore, who played drums on the album and wrote its vivid liner notes, humorously describes Ray of the Wine as "peaceful sounds from 'The Axis of Evil,'" adding reverently, "Reza plays magic. He has all these instruments that look like they belong in the Smithsonian."

Comparing each song on Ray of the Wine to "a painting, with different colors and feelings," Reza strokes the rhythms and melodies of mysticism, divinity, and human love -- most taken from the lyrical pages of ancient Persian poetry and a few he wrote -- with "brushes" such as the tar, sitar, ney, kamanche, and Farsi incantations.

Ironically, Densmore wasn't familiar with certain instruments to be used on Ray of the Wine when he and Reza began pre-production, but laughs, "I immediately resonated to the music and knew what to do. It sounds a little pompous, but I got it."

An acclaimed painter whose evocative water color imagery ensconces the CD, Reza says, "I want to make the connection, even if the language is different. The music translates to the American audience. There's more recognition of Indian music and the Arab world in the West, but there hasn't been a lot of understanding of Persian music, because it hasn't been introduced the way it should be, in order to make a connection. This music has that quality, the way it's presented, and I hope makes it more listenable. "The music is not totally traditional or from a different world," he assures quietly. "People can relate to it, at least in terms of the color and arrangement."

Densmore adds, "It blows my mind that in the last 10 years, America is accepting music in languages it can't speak. Look at the Buena Vista Social Club; it went through the roof. You get the feeling of the culture, even if you don't literally understand the lyrics. Reza's songs are so beautiful that they transcend the language barrier."

Ray of the Wine was recorded live in three days, and conveys the improvisation of "instruments talking to each other," as Densmore succinctly explains. However, all that spontaneity among crack musicians Osama Afiffi (electric bass), Quinn Johnson (keyboards), Christina Berio (percussion), Stephen Kent (didgeridoo), took a lot of cross-country pre-production between him and Reza.

"It was really fun, like a jazz record," says Densmore, who was also the executive producer along with Steinberger, whose revolutionary Hen House Studios offers free recording time to musicians in exchange for the right to film them during the process.

Reza asserts, "Harlan kept the record alive," referring to the long hibernation of Ray of the Wine after its completion.

Born in Tehran, Reza studied Persian classical and folk music. His recording credits include soundtrack and recording collaborations with renowned artists. Recent Reza performances include the MAXXI Museum in Rome, Lensic Performing Art Center in Santa Fe, and two performances at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. He and Densmore plan to gig in Los Angeles in the spring, with the distinct possibility of touring behind Ray of the Wine.
It's a concept as intoxicating as the album itself. Cheers to that.

NEW YORK (Hen House Studios)

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Doors drummer making Iranian music


John Densmore is opening doors again.

The former drummer for the biggest L.A. band of the '60s, the Doors, performs on a new album of Iranian classical music sung entirely in Farsi.

"Ray of the Wine," by Persian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Reza Derakshani, is propelled by Densmore's instantly recognizable, jazzy rock fills.

"I think you can embrace music and dig it without literally understanding the lyrics," says Densmore, who also produced and arranged the album. "Think about the Buena Vista Social Club. You can get the feeling -- and if you really want to, you can look up the words and find out what they mean."

Densmore, 60, has also opened his own doors, to RAVE! for this rare interview. His hilltop Santa Monica home is encircled by lush greenery, a rustic wooden deck and two outdoor cats who forever beg to get inside.

Although the Doors are in the history books as Venice Beach's most famous rock export, that's not entirely accurate.

"Only Ray (keyboardist Manzarek) lived there," says Densmore, who never resided anywhere but Santa Monica.

"I was born at Saint John's Hospital, just like my mom," he says.

A gong hangs at waist level in Densmore's living room, across from a piano currently decorated by a book of Doors sheet music. A stairway off the kitchen hides the mandatory hall of gold records.

"I don't really practice the drums that much," he says. "I play hand drums a lot."

Densmore met Derakshani (who goes by his first name, pronounced Ray-sah) years ago at a conference on spirituality taught by poet Robert Bly. Reza is famous across Europe -- not only as a musician but as a painter. (Sting recently commissioned him to fresco the walls of a cathedral he owns in Italy.)

Reza told Densmore he wanted to westernize his music -- to add elements of jazz and blues. "And I said, 'I'm your man,'" Densmore says.

The two first jammed in New York, in a tiny Upper East Side flat Reza rented before moving back to Iran.

"He is so multitalented," Densmore says. "He plays traditional Iranian instruments. They're really gorgeous. The kamanche is a violin made out of gourd, which he balances on his knee. And the ney flute is a hollow wooden reed. It's so bizarre."

Reza sent Densmore a demo tape of songs, which he set about rearranging.

"I didn't know anything about Iranian music," Densmore says, "but the melodies were already so accessible."

"Ray of the Wine" was recorded in three days at Hen House Studios in Venice. That's unusual brevity for any album, but especially one on which the drummer struggles with the timing.

"A couple of these songs are in 7/4 or something," Densmore says. "I had to concentrate so hard. These musicians, they play in these odd time signatures, 5 and 7, like we play 4/4. It's just ingrained, and it was a brain strain for me."

As the political gap between America and Iran widens, Densmore says "Ray of the Wine" is already bridging some of the cultural gap.

"Several reviews have said, 'Look at these two diverse cultures that are at each other's throats, and here they are together on this record,'" he says. "And I did an interview with a radio station in Montana that loved the album. I hung up and I thought, 'God, cowboys listening to Farsi? This is good!'"

However, promoting the album has run Densmore afoul of some political conservatives, who feel he's exploiting America's current hostility toward Iran.

In "Ray's" press release, Densmore describes the album as "peaceful sounds from the axis of evil." In addition, he recently told the Asbury Park Press, "I think we ought to understand a culture before we bomb it." Densmore, whose former band famously protested war in "The Unknown Soldier" and "Five to One," has apparently not changed his tune.

"We had no idea about Iran being our next target when we did this album," he says, "but I just love the timing here." Densmore recently received a request to appear on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" to elaborate on his position.

"But it didn't happen -- and I don't know if I was gonna do it anyway," Densmore says, indicating his desire for a subject change.

Densmore is more accustomed to making headlines for Doors-related reasons; most recently, being the sole surviving reunion holdout. His former band mates, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, have toured since 2002 with former Cult singer Ian Astbury, who in his '80s heyday was frequently compared to late Doors frontman Jim Morrison. Calling themselves the Doors of the 21st Century, the quasi-new band is performing in the Midwest and recording an album of fresh material.

Densmore is suing to stop Krieger and Manzarek from using their former band's name. (A similar lawsuit has also been filed by George and Clara Morrison, Jim's parents and controllers of his estate.)

"Let me say that Ray and Robby are great, and they should play," he says. "And Ian's good. But it's not THE DOORS. 'Founding members of the Doors,' fine, use that. Or maybe the coupes, because it takes four Doors to make a sedan."

Densmore isn't mollified by the "of the 21st Century" tag.

"And they're not playing anything new, so I wouldn't call them 21st century," he says. "That's what I'm doing." Densmore laughs as the zinger plays back in his head.

"Oooh!" he says. "And you can print that!"

Most Doors fans feel conflicted by this battle, like a child of divorcing parents. They tend to agree with Densmore, yet can't resist the chance to see Doors music performed live again. And when they go, they hate the fact that Densmore isn't there.

"But their guys copy me pretty good," Densmore says.

Densmore's first replacement in the Doors of the 21st Century was former Police drummer Stewart Copeland (who also later sued them, for breach of contract, after getting sacked). Now Krieger sideman Ty Dennis mans the stool. Densmore planned to join the reunion, at least for a couple of dates. But he was sidelined by tinnitus at first; later, by his conscience.

"The idea was to play a gig or two with Ian -- but not an entire tour," he says. "The VH1 show (a 2001 episode of "Storytellers") made so much sense to me because six different guys did a couple songs each as a tribute to Jim. But one guy doing the whole evening wearing leather pants?"

Densmore says he "wouldn't rule out" the possibility of reuniting with his former band mates down the road, after the legal matters resolve themselves. He also mentions that a Doors TV documentary, a la "The Beatles Anthology," is currently being discussed.

But for now, he looks forward to turning Doors fans onto Reza's music. The two are mulling a summer tour together.

"I'll probably say in the beginning, 'You're not gonna hear 'Light My Fire,' but thank you for coming and be open to a spiritual journey,'" he says. "And we'll get 'em dancing in the end."

Daily Breeze.com Los Angeles
BY COREY LEVITAN
POP MUSIC CRITIC Friday, April 15, 2005

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John and Reza on stage.