Ehsan Matoori Setlist

— Set 1 —

War Between Ego and Peace
Zehi Eshq
Taven Tess
Bia Jana
Sult
Taghsir ha
Sound of the Death
Gohar-e Jan
— Set 2 —
Sound of the Death
Dyngylday
Intro Mahor
Fountain of Eternity
Sanem Setizeh
Xur in G
Dorlal

On a very warm Saturday evening, I was in the south end of Saint Paul, at The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University for a theatrical music performance presented by the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective called The Fountain of Eternity. The show was inspired by the poetry of Rumi, the 13th century Persian mystic who is widely regarded for his timeless poetry. This event was created by Ehsan Matoori, a composer and santoor player who has been living in the United States since the early 2010’s. His debut album, 2019’s Phantasm led to a 20+ concert tour and since then, Matoori has been collaborating with a broad range of world musicians to create unique music. The Fountain of Eternity certainly promised that in abundance, with Persian classical vocalist Maliheh Moradi, Mongolian throat singer Tamir Hargana and dancer Miriam Peretz, as well as an ensemble of six additional musicians. Matoori has certainly cast a wide net of Middle Eastern and Asian influences.

Starting in low, red light, the strong drums for the start of War Between Ego and Peace from Matoori were striking and immediately brought the audience to silence. The musicians were arranged in a semi-circle around the sides and back of the stage, leaving a wide open central area. It gave Peretz an excellent area for her dancing. Moving into the second section. Zehi Eshq, Moradi appeared in all black and took her spot in the middle to begin singing. Matoori slid over to santoor, while also directing the action on stage. Moradi moved off stage and Hargana took over with the traditional throat singing and instrumental (I learned it was a Morin khuur, a two-stringed bowed instrument) work. The switch of lead singers actually leaving stage was an effective approach, and the pairing of Peretz Sufi-style dancing while Moradi sang on Bia Jana was a delight. Our first pairing of Moradi and Hargana’s very different singing styles in Sult created a pretty neat complement, supported by Matoori’s playing on santoor and drum, along with the rest of the musical composition really taking this to some high places. A longer number featuring Hargana with Peretz suddenly all in black was a treat and the numbers flowed seamlessly from one to the next. A final song, Gohar-e Jan, featuring Moradi brought us to the intermission.

The second act began with a brief instrumental, Sound of the Desert, before going into a rollicking Mongolian folk song, Dyngylday, with Hargana’s singing featured. With the full set of musicians and singers on stage, the back and forth between Moradi and Hargana was again featured. The event’s title number had Matoori flying on the santoor. Saman Setizeh featured Moradi and also had Peretz back on stage, this time in bold red with a yellow scarf creating quite the visuals and included quite the santoor solo. A quieter instrumental, Xur in G, started with Matoori solo on santoor but slowly built up with the rest of the musicians joining back in and several instrumental solos. An introduction of all of the performers was a prelude to the final number Dorlal, with an intense dance from Peretz and the strong musical finish. Ehsan Matoori and friends had created a unique and wonderful evening of music.

The happy performers took a selfie with the crowd, and afterwards, the lobby was brimming with excited audience members getting to speak and take photos with the artists. A quick word with Matoori highlighted that while each performance gets a name (this one being Fountain of Eternity), the overall works are called A Musical Narrative Inspired by the Poetry of Rumi. I could see Matoori’s passion come through before he was busy with other audience members, but we’ll look for the chance to see him again.