I'm Not Calling This Iranian Blues

I dislike the lazy way in which world music criticism likes to label fado as Portuguese blues, rembetiko as Greek blues, desert blues from Mali ( although that has a little more substance behind the tag ) and so on. I feel some would call this Iranian blues but I have my own store of cliches to apply such as "deeply spiritual". The disk is a recording of a live concert from I think Tehran, although most of the booklet notes are in farsi so I can't be sure. Titled Endless Vision, it is a collaboration between Armenian maestros Hossein Alizadeh on shourangiz ( one of the many lute like instruments from the region ) and Jivan Gasparian on duduk ( a vaguely clarinet like wind instrument ) There are supporting musicians on other plucked instruments and percussion and both male and female vocals with the lady sounding oddly like a Persian Grace Slick to my ears. There are three instrumental tracks, the four with vocals set a song by Gasparian called Mama, which is presumably self explanatory as far as subject matter is concerned, and mystical sufi lyrics from the likes of Rumi. The playing of the two co-leaders is very emotional ( bluesy ? ) and the project illustrates the shared cultural and musical aspects of Armenia and Iran which also spread in that crescent through Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and even down to Crete. Very accessible stuff for those with open ears and essential listening to those who would make snap judgements about life in these countries.