Sleeping in Sorrow talks about the child labour and struggles of these children through language of music. It is a journey through the lives of these children and an expression of their feelings, fears, and their thoughts.
Child labour is a social issue that we have not talked about enough and is often ignored in modern society. Even though awareness is growing, there are still over 200 million child labourers worldwide. Of these, 120 million are engaged in hazardous work and over 70 million of these children are under 10 years old. An important role of the arts is the power to raise awareness and shed light on injustice and humanity. I know it is my responsibility, as someone who has witnessed child labour daily in his home country, Iran, to talk about this issue through the language of music.
In the present work, though rooted in Iranian classical music, I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone to experiment with different styles and sounds beyond the Iranian classical repertoire. Different textures of percussion, mixed with Western cello and violin, merge together with the melodic sounds of the santur, to tell the story of child labour. A story that cannot be described by words alone.
Musicians:
Roya Yazdanmehr | Vocals
Neda Yamach | Violin
Katherine Pernal | Cello
Daniel Stadnicki | Percussion
Farhad Khosravi | Santur & Composition
Recorded and mastered by Nik Kozub at The Audio Department, Edmonton, Canada.
© Farhad Khosravi