Dancing with Love is a new CD of music by Afarin Mansouri on the theme of “love” in its many variants from the erotic to the transcendent. Eleven of the twelve tracks set Persian/Farsi poetry, from the 12th century CE to the present. The twelfth is a lament for solo flute. The musical style varies a lot with traditional Persian influences combining with modern Western compositional techniques in different ways. It leads to interesting results. Just to pick a few tracks, “Unattainable” for mezzo-soprano and piano sounds rather like a French chanson whereas a track like “Pain (Sorrow)” for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, piano, tar, cello and udu sounds much more like traditional Persian music. Other tracks incorporate electronics or jazz elements. One thing almost all the tracks have in common is that there’s a lot of melodic invention which makes it a very easy, as well as a very varied, listening experience.

The ensemble for the CD is made up of Iranian-Canadian musicians; the composer herself as lead vocalist, Milad Bagheri (tenor), Padideh AhrarJejad (Tar) and Ali Masoudi (Percussion), with members of Thin Edge New Music Collective playing Western instruments.  It’s all very stylish and satisfying.

The music was recorded at the Canterbury Music Company in Toronto and is nicely balanced and clean.  The booklet contains bios and translations of all the texts.  It’s released as a physical CD and on various streaming services but not, I think, as a digital download.

Catalogue number: Centrediscs CMCCD 31923