The Shadow Majlis launches ‘Mazdur’ video – Out now
The Shadow Majlis launches 'Mazdur' video - Out now
(Photo by Justin Minister) As we reported earlier, Toronto’s The Shadow Majlis released a debut album, “The Departure”, on which he collaborated with Bauhaus, The Mission, and DakhaBrakha members. Out now is the video for “Mazdur”. Musically, this project fuses elements of Eastern modes with post-punk.
Here’s what Ali Jafri says about the new “Mazdur” single: “It means ‘labourer’, which came to me as I watched how hard it was for Oisín to fight his losing battle to cancer. All the changes and adjustments. I chose to have the song ‘mutate’ through the different styles it weaves through. From the classical guitar to the dub reggae and ending on industrial with MRI sounds mixed in. MRIs were hard on Oisín. Existing became hard labour for him but he wasn’t ever far from having a laugh. He had a gracefulness about him which became apparent when it was observed by us as one of the constants through all the change. I dream of him sometimes, he’s ever graceful then.”
And he adds: “Going ‘dub’ on this was David J’s idea – hard to refuse. When I realized he wanted to play dubby stuff, my reaction was ummm hello?? Yes please! My demo was originally more like the first half of the song, which Bottrill and I had worked on. We saw Skinny Puppy during our sessions, which inspired the industrial ending. We recorded it the next day as a good way to conclude the ‘mutation’ furthest away from its original form. The ending was also a good place for some of the angst I was feeling and that Oisín was feeling. The machine voices say ‘We Come To Leave’, a recurring line on the album – making it a concept, I guess.”
Revolving around Ali Jafri (known as a member of David J’s live band, Pigface and various other projects), this record was produced and mixed by David Bottrill (Peter Gabriel, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Tool, David Sylvian, Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, Real World Studios).
Also on board are David J (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets) and drummer-percussionist Rakesh Tewari (Jaffa Road, The Special Interest Group) next to Dakhabrakha’s Olena Tsybulska, Mark Gemini Thwaite (The Mission, Peter Murphy, MGT, Tricky), Anne Bourne (Loreena McKennitt, Jane Siberry), Tuvan throat singer Soriah and more.
The full album marks the 2-year birthday of Jafri’s son Oisín, who passed away in September 2022 after battling a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. The recording helped Jafri work through grief over this and the dissolution of his conjugal relationship.
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