I am so happy to announce that Ladom Ensemble third full length album is released our on May 30th, 2025. This album took 5-7 years to make and a lot of hard work has gone through it. Here is a link to the album:
It is called Sofreh Tisch and the concept is to bring some of my influences as an Iranian-Canadian composer/musician and Beth Silver (our wonderful cellist) and her Ashkenazi Jewish decent. We are bringing our rich respective traditions into this album created in Toronto, Canada.
The farsi word sofreh (سفره) refers to a spread or a tablecloth traditionally used in to eat food on and, its cultural significance bearing a sense of gathering and coming together. Tisch (טיש), its literal translation being “table”, is comparatively the Yiddish equivalent; a gathering of merriment and storytelling before a special occasion or traditional wedding. In Hasidic context, it can refer to a feast for rabbis and their followers in which they recite texts and sing nigunim – songs without words. The fact that both cultures have this concept of coming together around a table to share so much more than food, and at the same time, an idea that beautifully embodies the spirit of the ensemble, was an opportunity that we couldn’t resist.
I remember as a kid I would go to my uncles house in my parent’s native town in Iran, Hamedan, and they would put this big cloth (sofreh) on the floor with full of yummy food and treats and all family and friends would gather around the Sofreh on the floor and eat good food and share lots of stories. As Ladom the four of us have shared many many meals together and I have felt the same sentiment of community and bonding.
Iran is composed of many minority groups and so many different languages, religions, and traditions. For thousands of years (generally) neighborhoods lived in peace and harmony including Zoroastrians, Jewish, sects of Islam, etc. People gathered around for feasts and celebrations and helped each other through the years. Like the members of Ladom, we have tried to capture some of that sentiment in the music in this album.
OverallI feel like there is a push all over the world for hate instead of love. You can see a change for no dialogue between people and instead pushing who we disagree with away and making fun of the other. The opposite of the concept behind this album. At the same time, all over the world you can see acts of love and humanity in the most difficult times and places. We see musical and art groups like Ladom trying to bring love and understanding to the table.
A core work in the album is three movement one called Distance Suite. It is my expression towards the concept of distance. Often we are forced to be split with our close family and friends due to human or natural causes. The first movement (hope) was inspired by the bravery of Iranian Woman who against all odds are fighting for their freedom and so many are harmed and put away from their loved ones. There is a large Iranian diaspora all over the world and they miss their homeland and their family and friends and they are not able to go back to see them. The distance is causing pain and suffering but there is hope that this will all change in the future for the better and I tried to capture that in my composition. Distance was also composed during the pandemic and this little tiny virus caused mayhem and created distance between humans (remember 6 ft??) one could not be “close” to their family and not gather in numbers and be in close proximity.
If you are in Toronto, we are having a Album launch release party on June 2nd, 2025 with Lula Lounge: Here is the link:
Lots of best wishes,
Pouya
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