Bemun in Bloomington, MN

For many years, English has been the primary and dominant language of
jazz
singing, but that doesn't mean that
vocal jazz
necessarily has to be performed in English. In fact, meaningful
has been performed in languages ranging from Portuguese (
Flora Purim
) to Swedish (
Jeanette Lindstroem
) to Polish (
Grazyna Auguscik
). If
rock en espanol
can be a huge phenomenon in the
rock
world and
hip-hoppers
in Paris can earn a living rapping in French, is there any reason why
shouldn't be multilingual? There isn't, and on
Bemun
, the language that singer
Cymin Samawatie
(who calls her group
Cyminology
) uses to perform
is Persian/Iranian -- not exactly a language that an abundance of
singers have used to express themselves, but a language that works well for
Samawatie
on appealing
post-bop
items such as
"Meloton,"
"Gosara,"
and
"Bi Deldari"
(all of which she either wrote or co-wrote). Some English-speaking
enthusiasts will no doubt pass on this 2006 recording because they don't understand Persian/Iranian, which is regrettable because
is undeniably expressive regardless of whether or not one understands the words she is singing (although
Double Moon Records
does provide English translations of the lyrics for those who want to read them). While some will describe this 58-minute CD as
, others will call it
world
because of the Persian/Iranian influence that
brings to the table -- and truth be told, both terms are applicable. This fine album is happily recommended to anyone who is seeking something fresh and intriguing from
. ~ Alex Henderson