Nil Chashm  
Farsi -Urdu
Vocals: Alireza Ghorbani, Qaiser Nizami
Composed and Produced by: Ehsan Matoori    
Arranged by: Ehsan Matoori, Ali Montazeri
Lyrics:  Nima Youshij,  Kamil Shuttari
Musicians: Carolina Calvache (Piano), Mike Block(Cello), Greg Ellis(Percussion)

Poetic Review:
The story behind Nil Cheshm is about the protagonist’s personal struggle and strife to overcome a trying situation. It depicts a man who is angry at his current situation but is trying to bring confidence back in his life with the help of prayers and spiritual strength. It expresses a crisis situation the protagonist is fighting and believes in God to help him. It is like a prayer -- a spiritual word. The protagonist is lamenting his situation in pain and suffering and is trying to listen to the spiritual message from within which he/she hasn’t believed in the past. The story is conveyed by two beautiful poems. The first one is in Farsi by Nima Youshij, which uses powerful imagery and metaphor expressing the sadness of a musical instrument “crying” and deploring the “vanished memories of the last journey” in the “loneliness of a silent night”. The second poem, a devotional poem by Kamil Shuttari, expresses the frustration of the lover and the pointlessness of persistent solicitations, invoking the importance of forsaking one’s pursuations and waiting in patience for deliverance.

The Voices and Bridges

Nil Chashm

Ehsan Matoori (Composer, Music Producer) 
Born in 1979 in Iran, Ehsan Matoori began learning Santoor (Persian-dulcimer) based on Maestro Faramarz Payvar’s method at age 9. He studied instrumental and vocal Radif (Persian musical repertory) with Parviz Meshkatian and Pashang Kamkar and later started teaching Santoor. Ehsan took lessons from Ardavan Kamkar, one of the greatest contemporary Santoor players of Iran known for his distinct playing style and tuning techniques. In addition to playing Santoor, Ehsan has studied music composition and harmony with Farhad Fakhroaldini and children's music with Soudabeh Salem. After moving to the United States in 2013, Ehsan performed with world music masters such as Sandeep Das (tabla), Jamal Mohamed (percussionist), Paul Sriji (mridangam), Maeve Gilchrist (jazz harp), Matthew Coley (marimba), Andrew Bleck (guitar), and Taher Khan (tabla). He has also been a member of SMU world music ensemble since 2013 and a member of the Silk Road Global Musicians Workshop as a faculty assistant and performer since 2016. He is the artistic director of the AramArt world music Young ensemble (visit: https://g.co/kgs/HxwQVS for more information). His first album “Phantasm” in collaboration with Mohsen Namjoo was published in 2019 and streamed more than 1,000,000 times and downloaded on all digital platforms. His love of learning about cultures and feeling  their melodies, has inspired his musical compositions which represent these cultures and bring new words to the world. Exploring diverse musical and poetic traditions around the world, Matoori has recently been working on a multilingual project called “The Voices and Bridges” in collaboration with Alireza Ghorbani, Bombay Jayashree, Olcay Bayir, Michael Kelly, Celia Woodsmith and etc, which was announced by the BBC world, BBC Persian and the Silk Road Project in July 2019 and July 2020. This album will be released in early 2021.