Golbang, a Sweden-based band, couldn’t be a better choice for the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Abu Dhabi 2012 as their multi-cultural backgrounds resonate with the capital city and the festival itself.
Founded in 1980 by Genesis lead Singer Peter Gabriel, the three-day festival in April will return to Abu Dhabi’s Corniche and Al Ain’s Al Jahili Fort with performers from more than 35 countries.The band, consisting of nine musicians and singers from different cultures, including Iranian, African and Scandinavian, after their recent successful concerts in Muscat and Dubai, are now planning to come to the UAE capital in April to take part in the annual WOMAD 2012 organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH).
Golbang, meaning the song of the nightingale in Balochi, was founded by lead Singer Rostam MirLashari, a native of Iranian Balochistan province, in Stockholm in 1994.
Over the years, the group’s musicians came together, often at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm where many of them studied, and experimented with combining Scandinavian and Middle Eastern folk melodies, as well as African rhythms.
Now one of Scandinavia’s most popular world music bands, the group has performed at most major music venues in Scandinavia and abroad, and produced four albums, including the most recent, Setareh, or Star in Persian. They perform in Arabic, Persian, Balochi, Kurdish, English and all Scandinavian languages.
“We are looking forward and excited to come and perform in the UAE capital during the WOMAD. Last week, we had a successful show at Souk Madinat Jumairah’s Amphitheatre,” MirLashari told Khaleej Times after the show on Friday.
At their first UAE performance, the band enthralled the audience with their fusion of folkloric and rock Balochi, Persian and Swedish songs and traditional dances. The show was organised by the stockholm-based Swedish Art Council.
Tomaj Keyvani of the art council, who is also the booking agent for Golbang, said: “The preparations are already under way for the WOMAD 2012 participation. We are just waiting for the confirmation, and then we will be in Abu Dhabi in April to rock again. On Thursday, the band will be in Copenhagen for WOMAX.”
The Dubai show audience included guests from Oman and Bahrain. Among them was also Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, former chief minister of Balochistan province in Pakistan. MirLashari picked the crowd with some famous Balochi dance numbers like Washmalle (Let’s Dance) and O Mani Dost Biya (O My Friend Come).
When asked what inspired him to form the band, MirLashari said: “Golbang means a lot to me. Above all it embodies my dream of an ideal community where we meet and respect one another and where our abilities are combined to create something together. It enables me to develop not just a as a musician but as a person.”
He added that when he migrated to Sweden in 1991, he met some folklore musicians and singers from different parts of the world and started performing together. “I introduced the traditional Balochi songs, music and instruments to them. They shared their different cultural arts with me, and gradually we started creating fusion, bringing the Western and Middle Eastern cultures together and finally decided to establish the group,” he explained.
MirLashari says though there is contrast in the fusion form of art, there is beauty in it. “Even contrasts are beautiful in music of different cultures. When the distinct sounds of the various cultures shine through, as they do in Golbang’s music, it’s nothing less than magic,” he said.
“We will soon bring this beauty to the Abu Dhabi audience during WOMAD 2012,” promised MirLashari.
Rostam MirLashari is the lead singer in the group. As a youth, he was the youngest of a trio in the town of Ban (Iran) that performed traditional, folk and contemporary songs. As an adult, Rostam studied civil engineering, worked in the building industry and even became director of a construction company in Minab.
He is well known in Iran for his singing before coming to Sweden in 1991. He has mastered many different singing techniques and scales which he continued to refine while studying at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm. His special singing technique contributes to Golbang’s unique sound. Martin Byström, a reviewer for Dagens Nyheter, states that Rostam “must have one of Sweden’s most beautiful and seductive voices”.
Celso Paco is multi-instrumentalist and dancer molded to old traditions in local schools and dance-groups in Maputo, Mozambique since the age of nine.
He performs as a storyteller, as well as folk-music and dance workshop conductor for children and adults. Paco sings and plays a variety of musical instruments from the traditional to the contemporary such as timbila (marimba), kalimba/mbira (thumb-pianos), xitende (musical bow), xigovia (fruit-ocarina), xikitsi (rattle board of strow), ngomas (folk-drums), didjeridoo, jews-harp, congas and drum-set to jazz, pop, reggae, Afro-Latin and highlife on big and small stages, theater places and clubs.
Daniel Reid is originally from a small village in the south-eastern part of Sweden and plays saxophone in the group. He has attended several music schools and has studied everything from classical music to jazz. During his studies at the music colleges, his love for folk music has grown. He contribute to Golbang not only with his saxophone playing but also with his deep knowledge of traditional Swedish folk music which blends very well with band’s type of music.
Emad Shakuori is one of Europe’s few masters of the beautiful stringed instrument Quanon, with 78 strings and 261 keys. His father was head teacher of a cultural school in Iran and so Emad and his brother learnt to play as children. His musicality and rich knowledge of Iranian, Kurdish and Indian music add a vibrant colour to the music of Golbang.
Abdul Rahman Surizehi was given four out of five possible stars for his album Rakhshani Love Songs & Trance Music from Balochistan in the June 2011 edition of Songlines magazine, and is also among the Songlines editor’s choice selection of the 10 best new releases.
He was born in Iranian Balochistan but since 1987 he has been a resident of Norway. In the band, he plays the Benju, a keyed dulcimer that is virtually unknown anywhere else, and is taken to great heights by Baloch musicians. Other instruments he plays include the Tamburag lute and the Soruze, an extraordinary fiddle carved to look rather like a skull, used mainly in trance music.
Adam Johansson was brought up in Norrland in the north of Sweden and has been surrounded by music since childhood. He plays the guitar in the group. He studies Swedish folk music performance at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and can most likely be seen at every folk music festival in Sweden.
Ramin Yousefi is originally from Teheran in Iran and is the bass player of Golbang. He is known all over the world as one of the most popular Iranian bass players in exile. His deep knowledge of the typical music of the Arabian Gulf area is a very important part of the group’s repertoire and makes them sound so special.
Jouni Happalai is a percussion player/drummer/producer born in Sweden. He has been a drummer since childhood and started his career as a punk-rocker. He has, during the years, played different kinds of music styles and has infused the band with a fresh sound and energy.
Saeed Hashabeiki is originally from Iran and plays keyboard in the group. He is known all over the world as one of the most popular Iranian keyboard players in exile. He is very good at improvisation and has deep knowledge of the different oriental styles of music, such as Hebrew and Arabian music styles.
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