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Mamak Khadem – Jostojoo (Forever Seeking)

Label: Banyan Tree Productions
Original Release Date: 2007

Inspired by Makak Khadem’s travels throughout the Middle East, the music of Jostojoo has been a very personal and exciting journey for me. I have had the freedom to explore a variety of different regional and folk melodies not only from Iran but from Greece, Turkey and Armenia and experiment with arrangements that are contemporary and cross over numerous different musical styles. I hope that you will find Jostojoo an auditory and emotional musical experience. While centered around Mamak Khadem’s vocals, Jostojoo also features musicians like Ole Mathisen on clarinet, Simone Haggiag on daf and cajon as well as a whole host of other instruments, Eyvind King on viola, Brahim Fribgane and Dimitris Mahlis on oud, Skuli Sverrisson on bass, Benjamin Wittman on darbuka and Hamid Saeidi on santur. There’s also Habib Mefia on dom dom and damman, Sofia Labropoulou on kanum, Roubik Haroutunian on duduk, Layla Sakamoto Sharifi on violin, Marc Shulman on guitar.