Niyaz is an acoustic electronic project that brings together three prominent musical figures to form an exciting new fusion of traditional Persian music and modern electronics..
Vocalist and composer Azam Ali, one of the founding members of the acclaimed group Vas was born in Iran, raised in India and moved to The United State as a teenager.
Multi instrumentalist and composer Ramin (Loga) Torkian of Axiom of Choice was also born in Iran and moved to the United states as a teenager. His extensive travels combined with his in-depth understanding of Persian music and Indian culture and spirituality have enabled him to cultivate a sound that is extremely authentic, yet can lend itself to the modern framework within which the music is created.
Twice Grammy nominee producer/ remixer Carmen Rizzo is one of the most in demand producer- programmers on the electronic dance scene today. He has worked with artists ranging from Ryuichi Sakamoto, Khaled, Seal, Paul Oakenfold & Cirque Du Soleil bringing his unique approach to beats and electronic textures..
These three veteran masters have all experienced success on their own and have found a new common ground in Niyaz where the mystical poetry of Urdu and Persian Sufi poets of the 14th and 15th century forms the lyrical framework for a fresh new musical adventure…

amazon.com

On their sophomore release, Niyaz continues to bridge the gap between traditional and modern world music. This double CD (featuring one disc of electronic and one disc of acoustic versions of the tracks) reveals a complex body of work. Nine Heavens features intricately carved new arrangements of traditional folk songs as well as original compositions utilizing mystical Sufi poems from Iran, the Indian sub-continent and
Turkey…

sixdegreesrecords.com

Charley (a.k.a. Charlie) Patton was the most powerful blues recording artist of all time, considered by many to be the single most important figure in the history of traditional blues. He was a profound shaper and a giant figure in early Mississippi Delta music. The combined power of this vocal and guitar dynamics is unparalleled and he was the Delta's first blues celebrity. Founder contains his most famous blues while the companion album (2001) virtually completes Patton's legacy and includes recently discovered unissued takes. Focusing on the breadth of his repertoire, it evokes a sense of what the earliest blues stylings may have sounded like, and includes bottleneck blues and sanctified songs.