By Keith Walsh
With The Shadow Majlis debut album The Departure, singer/songwriter Ali Jafri offers glimpses of his experiences with grief. Dedicated to his son Oisin who in 2022 lost a fierce battle with cancer at the age of seven, The Departure features inspired performances by a brilliant team, captured by producer David Bottrill. As he navigates his way through loss during the course of the album, Jafri brings the listener closer to a secret world at the crossroads of Earth and eternity. (My review of ‘The Departure’ Is Here.)
Popular Culture Beat: It’s pretty clear from the record that your spirituality has been a powerful help for you to navigate through grief. What was your spirituality prior to this loss, and how has that transformed since then?
Ali Jafri: I’ve always had a spiritually driven outlook as a person and an artist. I’ve been involved with the Rifai Sufi order in Toronto for just over 20 years. I’ve always held a open minded, pluralistic view of trying to see unity in the multiplicity and multiplicity within the singular beauty of collective existence. Since my son died, a lot has been shaken up in my life. I took a trip to Turkey, England, and France to do some soul-searching. I visited Rumi‘s tomb and I came away spending a lot of time in solitary isolation. Something Sufis call ‘Halvet’ in Turkish. Since then I’ve been finding a shift within myself, and being a bit more independent and preferring, quieter, smaller, social settings, and reflection.
Popular Culture Beat: It’s amazing that “The Departure” is a debut album, as it’s a mature collection. What in your life previously artistically, or in your education, or family background, made it possible for you to hit the target so powerfully right out of the gate?
Ali Jafri: This album is the debut for this project. I’ve been an active musician since the mid-90s in a past project I had called Ariel, and also a brief stint operating under my name as a solo artist, and also a brief stint in a project called Saintfield (named after a lovely small northern Irish town). I’ve always approached music as a fusion of east and west to reflect my identity as a person raised in an eastern family and household but in a western context. I’ve always felt like a bridge between east and west and I’ve always wanted my music to reflect that. Having said that I feel my background, and all these other projects really helped me refined my sound, and of course, having access to a producer like David Bottrill, and his résumé and his experience, and his expertise, made all the difference between my past projects and The Shadow Majlis. And of course, the subject matter of this album in the wake of death, personal upheaval and to draw from that also gives this album a certain weight. I also lost my mother in October 2020, I’m also still grieving that loss as well.
Popular Culture Beat: There are strong currents of Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios on the record. How did you find this studio and what role did it play in shaping the sound?
Ali Jafri: David Bottrill was introduced to Peter Gabriel when Bottrill was starting out working with Daniel Lanois, and of course, David spent many years at Real World Studios doing a lot of great work with Peter Gabriel, and I had come to learn of David Bottrill through Mark Gemini Thwaite, my friend and guest guitarist on ‘Savage Castaway’ and ‘Swallowed by the Sky.’ I’ve become familiar with Mark through the many shows, I’ve attended as Peter Murphy‘s guest and friend. I read about David Bottrill’s career and experience. I was floored by the many parallels between my vision for my music and what he had already accomplished on a very high-level with not only Peter Gabriel but also with bands like Tool, King Crimson Placebo, Muse, Smashing Pumpkins, Mastodon. This guy’s got all of the sensibilities I’m looking for to fuse east and west let alone the technical ability to produce high-quality records.
I approached Bottrill with my project Saintfield and he seemed to like what he heard and felt that would be a good fit. Then when my child died (changing) my personal life and domestic partnership, I fell apart, I ended up carrying on with the project which is now The Shadow Majlis. it’s largely a solo project which is a collaborative, I am writing the songs, The concepts are mine, the genesis of the songs come through me. Of course Bottrill helped in a big way on this album, and shaping the feel of it, and of course, the production side of it, and the players came in and played instruments I don’t know how to play an added their own flavour for which I’m extremely grateful. I’m very very pleased by everybody’s performance and contributions to this album. While the songs are mine, they definitely have a lot of other peoples fingerprints on them which is what I love about music and art, is the potential for collaboration to be blending vibes. I’m happy to spearhead The Shadow Majlis, but I I get by with a little help from my friends, I couldn’t do this alone, obviously.
Popular Culture Beat: I’m also curious how you assembled such a special team of collaborators? Were any of the performances ‘flown in’ digitally?
Ali Jafri: As for the assembly of this team, I guess my years of playing, I have a history with most of the people that play on the album . I’ve met almost everybody or worked with everybody at some point in order to be able to call on them to get involved. I guess over the last couple of decades of being in the game I’ve accumulated some very good friends. I met Olena (vocals on the title track) years ago in a past life when I was working on the presenter side of the business at Mercan Dede. Selman and I played together when my Pigface bandmate Gaelynn Lea came through Toronto and we opened. Selman played on the track ‘LKK’ from my ‘Bloodlines’ EP. He’s become a good friend and started teaching me to play the ney. I bought a couple in Turkey as I went twice in Dec 2022 and February 2023.
David J and I met when my band Ariel opened for him more than once. He invited me to play a show with his band ‘Vagabond Vigilantes’ and we toured doing living room shows, I supported him as an accompanist. We forged a strong bond like that as a duo.
Popular Culture Beat: David Bottrill recorded some of my very favorite Peter Gabriel albums, and I do hear the imprint of something from the 1992 album ‘Us.’ How hands on was David in terms of coaxing certain sounds or guiding the work with some of the Eastern instruments?
Popular Culture Beat: What’s your favorite method of composing? Using a guitar, or from poetry or a lyrical idea?
Ali Jafri: David Bottrill was quite hands-on and as a producer has guided many aspects of the production including guiding the work of some of the Eastern instruments. In particular, my sitar on ‘Savage Castaway,’ we had tried several different takes and approaches and yeah, he really helped me a lot with with figuring out the best way to incorporate sitar, some of the tanpura drones you hear are David, he was instrumental in helping find those sounds and incorporating them and making it all work in the best possible way. One stand out moment of several is in ‘Mazdur,’ there’s some guitar layering going on that it was really interesting for me, it was an African soukous type of approach. Which feels very ‘Gabriel-esque.’ As producer, David Bottrill really encouraged me to try different approaches and do things repeatedly to get the best performance out of me.
He was quite hands-on, but not in a dictatorial stifling kind of way, he really helped me find my voice rather than imposing something else on me. it helps that the type of music I’m doing really lends itself to the kind of sensibilities I was looking for in a producer such as David Bottrill. It was easy for me and very natural for me to trust and go to work with him. Another great thing about working with David Bottrill was I was having a very difficult time in my life and wasn’t necessarily at my best but with his support and collaboration we were able to do a really good job. Listening back to the album now I ended up being at my best which is a testament to the type of producer David Bottrill is. There was a nice balance of my ‘voice’ and his influence. If I can help it and the budget is there, I’d work with him again. I think we work well together.
Ali Jafri: I usually come up with the music first now that I’m by myself. When I used to be in a band, I used to often jam things out with the guys, sometimes I would present them with an idea I came up with on my own, but now with The Shadow Majlis dynamic, I am pretty much solo. I start off with a beat typically, and I’ll start tinkering with that, and finding some good grooves And I’ll play with building it out from there and I’ll do it on my computer between GarageBand and Logic. I like GarageBand for quick and easy, start up and set up and then can easily open those initial ideas into logic and then flesh them out. It’s interesting, though during the making of this album we tried an approach I’ve never tried before. I had this music and I had some lyrical ideas but finding a melody and how to insert the lyrics was an obstacle.
Bottrill gave me the idea of using some of the Turkish and Persian songs I’ve sung in Sufi ceremonies with whirling dervishes as a way to start getting some juices flowing, and some ideas flowing. I found that to be extremely helpful in opening up how I might throw my voice. We ended up making some modifications and adapted the vocals to fit better with the respective song that we were working on. It was a great icebreaker and getting me to start forming my vocal melodies also singing in another language, other than English really affected the outcome. Then going on to replace the words with the words I had written, also made for an interesting way to write. I’ll definitely employ this method again. Working with Bottrill was educational.
Popular Culture Beat: ‘Beshno Az Ney’ seems to be inspired by a Rumi poem ‘The Reed,’ about finding resolution through music. As it’s the penultimate song on the album, how do you consider it a kind of summation? What’s your experience with Rumi and Sufism?
Ali Jafri: ‘Beshno Az Ney’ is a very special track as it’s about a reed flute crying about being separated from the reed bed and longing to go back home and the reed is a metaphor for the human, and the crying and lamentation of the reed is a metaphor for the human desire to go back to where we came from i.e. to return to source. The more hollow the reed, the better, the sound, and the emptier we are of our ego the better. Attachments to this world can hinder the flow of breath through the flute that is, of course, a great metaphor illustrating the importance to remember who we are. The essence of all mysticism is a contemplation of the unseen, the soul, the spirit, the mind, the breath. We are more than our bodies to which our egos are attached, and with our bodies the ego will be left behind.
The ego is only useful as long as we inhabit our bodies, but we are more than our bodies. Which speaks to the ‘We’ and less of the ‘Me,’ which is a fundamental understanding for a higher love. I am you, and you are me, but without the ‘enmeshment’ of ego. It’s a lot to think about, hence all of the wonderful work of wisdom traditions in light of the failings of egoic existence. This work, and the struggle is the type of ‘jihad’ that I am interested in. It’s the jihad misconstrued by extremists. The biggest war we have is to overcome the barriers that we have built between us and love.
Love is everywhere if we just remember and go back. Sometimes going back is to go forth. To unify through healthy detachment. The truth isn’t contradictory, it is inclusive. I also dread sounding like a preacher because I also believe we all have to find our own way. Carve our own paths. Finding love and truth is the most intimate journey and experience rendering it hard to discuss and put into words. I believe Sufism is known as the alchemy of the heart for this reason. Rumi says, and I’m likely paraphrasing, ‘everyone will taste death, but very few will taste life.’ This is hard work, life is hard — but we’re in this together. This is the takeaway for me, we come to leave. Why not make it good while it lasts, but of course it’s all subjective and that’s why we have so much art, and cultural and spiritual expression to learn from.
I am an aspiring dervish, Rumi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mercan Dede were my gateways into it. Mercan Dede introduced me to my teacher back in 2002 as they are friends, you can hear my teacher’s speaking voice on a couple of Mercan Dede’s tracks which I came to discover when I met him in person. I knew that voice, thanks to this music. 2002 incidentally is when Peter Murphy’s ‘Dust’ album came out, produced by Mercan Dede. The Peter Murphy tie in to my youth as a Bauhaus fan is another layer to the story of it all coming together in the shaping of my life that I’ll have save for another day, but of course it leads to David J. I don’t communicate with Peter anymore, but I am obviously still very much in touch with David J. I love Peter Murphy, however I feel close to David J.
You get a glimpse of David J’s relationship with Sufism in his first book, which is one of many things we share in common. After my son died, my brother and sister-in-law generously sent me on a healing trip. I saw The Cure at Wembley on the first of their 3 nights there, we got soaked in Robert Smith’s grief and loss as heard in his new songs. From there, I went to Turkey in time for Rumi’s death anniversary on December 18th, ‘Seb i Arus’ also known as his “wedding night.’
It was a profound celebratory experience to witness and experience. It deepened my understanding of myself. I have more work to do, as we all do, but this was very helpful for my grief experience. I made new friends and now have a deep love for Istanbul and Konya, the latter is where Rumi and Shams Tabrizi’s graves are closely situated. I’ve always felt connected to Shams Tabrizi and Rumi, and have recited ‘Beshno Az Ney’ during Sufi ceremonies in Toronto on several occasions. I have a relationship with that poem that is special to me even before I went to Konya, even before my son died. I went for a 2nd trip to Turkey in February 2023, but the earthquake that struck the southeast part of Turkey, added more grief to the experience. I connected with a dervish brother Kerem there, he recorded his parts on earthquake relief effort breaks. He’s a lovely soul. I’m grateful for his participation. We’ve performed at Sufi ceremonies in Toronto where I drum more often than I sing.
My experience with Sufism is a liberating one. I was a raised in a conservative Muslim home and community, Sufism has helped me find liberation through heart centered living, pluralism and to ask questions and to contemplate.
Popular Culture Beat: There’s a current of connections with another world on The Departure, not only in the lyrics but also in the spirituality of the moods, and in the presence of eastern instruments. How has writing and recording music helped you define yourself and understand basic human existence, and also while facing loss?
Ali Jafri: What a lovely question if only I could spend hours answering this, but I’ll try my best to be as concise as possible, so as to not ramble on and on. As a person who deeply and simultaneously identifies with both the East and the West, music has been the only language that truly allows me to express the two together. It’s where I feel truly free to be me. Having witnessed the east and west gap has been heartbreaking for me as I feel the connection between the two where I’m kind of like a suspension bridge. There’s a lot of tension but I can make the connection. Hopefully people can find a way to see both worlds in a way through this music, and hopefully see themselves. I believe the more personal you get, the more universal the message. if you stay too topical, too superficial, it won’t speak to anyone with any substance. The same is true for all art forms, including documentary filmmaking. My writing coach, Sasha Singer-Wilson (who also sings with me on ‘Beshno Az Ney’ and ‘Swallowed by the Sky’ who has taught me the ways of Natalie Goldberg, have a strong emphasis on being specific, i.e. instead of saying, ‘bird’, say ‘hawk’ or ‘crow.’ To be vulnerable and honest is the only way to earn the trust of your audience who are ultimately your friends and your community. I sincerely hope people can hear themselves in my work. I know not everyone will, but I know they’re out there. Whether they buy my stuff or not is secondary –the world is such, the money helps with keeping operations going. I trust in the catharsis of creation and the deeper I go within the further the reach goes out. Human existence is a lonely experience, the outreach is necessary. Nothing highlights that more than facing loss. We all grieve and can share the load in our connection.
Popular Culture Beat: Please explain the idea behind the band name.
Ali Jafri: ‘Majlis’ means sitting room, council, gathering. I chose to blend languages in the name as I do cultures in the music as a reflection of my blended experience as a first generation Canadian. I’m the only Canadian born member of my family growing up.
I like the name because of the connotations of shadow with psychology, mysticism and the fringe, just outside the spotlight. It’s a bigger realm where potential is born from. It represents possibility, and the idea of my collaborators being a type of council messaging the world from the shadows is a premise that is fun. An outside influence that’s closer than you know. Lurking, benevolently. You need to be afraid of the dark, not always. Ha!
The Shadow Majlis Dot Com
The Shadow Majlis On Bandcamp
‘The Departure’ On Spotify
‘The Departure’ On Apple Music
Saintfield On Bandcamp
‘Ali Jafri’ On Bandcamp
‘The Departure’ Reviewed On Popular Culture Beat
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