Ashuri-ha; or Asuri-ha i.e. Assyrians are descendants of an ancient people, inhabitants of Mesopotamia; today's Iraq. They converted into Christianity in early centuries. Presently they are scattered in several countries of the world. Their music has been influenced by their neighbors the Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Persians and even Lores. This collection was arranged by the talented Musician Khosro Soltanni now living in Austria, with the cooperation of Musical instruments players; Majid Drakhshanni, Ardashir Come-car, Karimeh Gorbanni and Haidarza.

Dovichvaleh; Ms Thomas; A new CD of Assyrian songs and poems is in market which you have sang and produced. Can you tell us about these melodies and describe the Assyrian music?

Hellene: This CD is a collection of older Assyrian melodies which I had heard here and there or were sang in our home since long time ago, they have been forgotten. I added lyrics to them composed by Mr. Hannibal Alkhas and sang them, he also recites the poems.

Dovichvaleh: Is Mr. Alkhas the same famous artist whom we know? Does he writes poetry also?

Hellene; yes! He writes great poetry in his mother tongue, he has also written some in the Persian language.

Dovichvaleh; Were all the lyrics in this collection written by Mr. Alkhas?

Hellene; Yes! You know , I wanted to produce a cultural expression and turned up to be an admirable artistic production. Long time ago I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Alkhas's poetry he recited them to me, plus my bother -in-law Mr. Soltanni writes great poetry in the Assyrian language. I felt it was such a shame if these works of arts remain unknown by the rest of the Assyrians. We Assyrians do not have a sovereign homeland and have been scattered around the world. We have not had a chance to study our own language properly. In the few schools we had the Assyrian language was taught as a second language, therefore most of us have not learned it as we should.. It was for this reason that I thought it would be great to bring these writings to the attention of the Assyrians.

Dovichvaleh; Is this the first time that Assyrian music together with poetry has been produced?

Hellene; Yes! As far as I know. We have CD's which contain recitation of Poetry but not together with music similar to this.

Dovichvaleh; Why do you call this CD, Urumieh.

The name of the CD refers to the city of Urmia which one of the Mr. Alkhas's poems is called. It is a long composition which I have sang four to five verses of it. Like Shahriar who wrote a poem expressing longing for the Haidar Abad mountain while living in exile, Mr. Alkhas converses with the plain of Urmia. He imagines himself as painter together with his deceased father who was a famous Assyrian writer and poet flying over the plain of Urmia where they meet farmers hard at work and speak to them in poetic Assyrian language.

Dovichvaleh; What are the subjects of the songs that you sing?

Hellene: They are about different subjects. I have sang five lyrics composed by Mr. Alkhas each for a different reason. One of them is Urmia, the other is a love song, another is about the tragic fleeing of the Assyrians, another is about the Assyrian spring new year.

Dovichvaleh; MS. Thomas, who are the people who have worked with you in producing this CD?

Hellene: The artists who worked with me were Mr. Khosro Soltanni who plays wind instruments, Mr. Majid Drakhshanni who plays the Seh-Taar, Mr. Aradashire Comecar who played Kamoncheh and Mr. Ajaghi played the drums.

Dovichvaleh; Was this CD recorded in Iran or in the West?

Hellene; It was recorded in Iran but was edited in Germany.

Hellene; Yes! A none profit Charitable organization called Assyrian Aid Society is selling them, it will distribute the proceeds to where it is needed.

Dovichvaleh: You said that one of the songs in the collection has a feminist message, what do mean by that.

Hellene; In his poem when Mr. Alkahs travels to Urmia and Salamas where Assyrians originally lived in Iran, he paints the various aspects of the Assyrian life, including the children, the farmers, and realizes that women usually carry a greater burden of responsibility which he points to in his lyrics where he lists all the chores which women had to take care of including preparing food and preserving it for the winter months, taking care of the children, climbing the ladder to the roof while carrying a child on their back, serving the guests and the husband. Alkhas at one point in his verse writes; the husband is laying down and resting as he plays baggaman with his friend. He begins his verse by writing; Before marriage he adored this woman like an angel, what happened that after marriage she changed into a servant.

Dovichvaleh; What is the name of this song.

Hellene; "women farmers."

Dovichvaleh: Ms. Thomas why did you record this CD in Iran?

Hellene; I have worked for two years on producing this CD and traveled twice to Iran searching for the original melodies, especially those that were played with wind instruments such as Zorna and Dhavola. Through Mr. Alkhas I met Mr. soltanni who lived in Austria. Mr. Alkhas and Ardashir Comecar both lived in Iran at that time. Mr. alkhas, Mr. Drakhshani and Mr. Soltanni later were able to meet with me in Germany and work together.

Dovichvaleh; What other projects do you plan to work on in the future?

Hellene; I have in mind to produce a collection of songs for the Children which are very few. Mr. Alkhas has some poems for children which can be put to music and included in such collection.

Dovichvaleh; Ms. Thomas, thank you for spending this time with us.

Courtisy of: http://www.christiansofiraq.com/Helenmay256.html