British Premiere
Rarely does an artist come along who is equally at home recording and performing an album like Madman of God: The Divine Love Songs of the Persian Sufi Masters, as she is on a stage with the likes of Praxis,Buckethead and Bill Laswell, walking the very cutting edge of techno hip hop, but such an artist is Sussan Deyhim.
Born in Teheran to an old aristocratic family, Deyhim's upbringing's during the rule of the Shah was ultra-progressive. Her father was an economist, scientist and violinist; her house was filled with every conceivable style of music, old and new. Deyhim's life was consumed with ballet and her teacher was a choreographer who combined works by Stockhausen and Bartok with traditional and folk Persian music.
By the time she met Maurice Bejart, and was offered a scholarship to attend his School of Performing Arts in Brussels, Deyhim had been exposed to an amazing variety of music: from India, Egypt, Andalusia, and every part of her own country-the African-influenced styles and trance ceremonies of the south, Saudi Arabian, Kurdish, Luristani, Baluchistani, Afgani, the immigrant tribes of the central regions.
Eventually she met and began working with Richard Horowitz, a musician, composer and producer schooled in free jazz, steeped in the music of Morocco and many other forms of what would become known as "world music." Their collaboration would produce Majoun for Sony Classical-a unique synthesis that married the strains of traditional Middle Eastern music with cutting edge technology and a very progressive sensibility.
It was this same haunting quality that inspired Peter Gabriel to use Deyhim's voice to evoke Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ. Deyhim eventually collaborated with Depak Chopra for A Gift of Love, with the poetry of Rumi being read by Madonna, Martin Sheen and many others. She also began a solo album in London called Maze, mixed by Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc in London and produced by Bill Laswell in New York, which is still in production.
"I don't really consider myself an entertainer from the showbiz tradition," she points out. "I come more from Artaud, where performance and shamanism are connected, where going onstage is like being ready to fall off a cliff."
Her appearances have ranged from productions like John Claude van Italie's Tibetan Book of the Dead at La Mama in New York to playing Euridice at La Scala in Milan, from performing with Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble to recording and performing as a soloist with Bobby McFerrin's vocal ensemble.
her face and voice are the centre of attentionÉ thrilling music that sounds in the ear long after you've left the show. Holland Carter, New York Times
www.sussandeyhim.com