Haale

Just coming off a tour in California, Iranian artist Haale played at Tonic in NYC this weekend. Her style is equal parts whirling dervish and guitar god, and her voice is like a hurricane. She’s tiny in person, with dark curly hair that hides half her face as sings, and when she rocks out, you hardly know what hit you. It’s very transporting. Her band is really amazing, especially the guys on percussion, who use literally every limb to make music. There’s something about percussion-heavy music like this that makes a live show really worth checking out, so if she’s playing near you, go.

Haale’s EPs were just released this month, though unfortunately I couldn’t stay after the show to buy them and now I’m kicking myself because it looks like they’re not available online yet. I might be wrong on this stuff as I’m writing from memory, but Paratrooper (pictured below), is in English, and Sean Lennon sang on one of the songs. Morning is more Persian and features a ton of Rumi and Hafez lyrics. Also, Morning’s cover is a photograph by well-known Iranian artist Shirin Neshat.

Final word is that this is one of few and by far the coolest fusions of rock and traditional Iranian music I’ve ever heard. Here’s a minute-long clip from the show (that I might have to take down later, we’ll see!) – sorry for the awful lighting and camerawork, but at least you’ll get a taste of her live show.