I discovered this photo by Hamed Saber while looking on Flickr.com for a photo for the Quiet Day improvisation. Until now all photos have been attached to the improvisations after the fact. I thought this beautiful picture and the accompanying text were truly moving and decided to do a piece based on them. Hamed describes the picture as: "This door (window) is a praying room of a historical house which Ayatollah Taleghani born and grew in. It's located in a village near Taleghan." Below the picture he wrote:

================

Death is to fly ...

A friend passed away last night...

Wish her be in heavens now, in paradise. She was in a hell till last night, which at last she flied away...

=================

I spent a lot of time looking at Hamed's wonderful photos and reading about his life in Iran. I was stuck by the universality of his experience and how similar we are in our feelings about friends, family, life. Would that our governments weren't so at odds with each other... When does that insanity end?

I improvised the music on the mandolin while looking at the photo and thinking about Hamed's words. The faster section with the synthesized drone was done late last night, I improvised the opening slow section early this morning. Digital editing and mixing and addition of the drone part (using Digidesign's Structure) completed the piece. I tuned the mandolin differently than normal, DDAD.

Thank you, Hamed, for the inspiration. Maybe one day we will meet.

-William Bradbury

Please feel free to add a comment on the Feedback/Contact page.