Description

Raha Faridi: Vocal
Ebrahim Alavi: Guitar
Ebrahim Monsefi: Lyric
Majid Nasiri: Record & Mix
Based on “La Mamma” by “Charles Aznavour”

Ebrahim Monsefi was a unique songwriter from Bandar Abbas, in southern Iran. His music of love and pain, continues to inspire a new generation of artists.
In 2012, fifteen years after he died at the age of 52, in poverty and sorrow, his mother, “Haji Maryam,” passed away. She was a remarkable woman, full of life, humor and wisdom. I had the chance to spend just one day living with her, profound enough for me to dedicate this song to her.
It’s 11 p.m. My head is filled with Haji Maryam and this melody. I sang it to Ebrahim Alavi, a young, gifted guitar player from the south. Without rehearsal, he was ready. He suggested we record it in Majid Nasiri’s studio. It was midsummer in Bandar Abbas, humid, heavy, a harbor city thick with salt and stories. The studio was a single room. We picked mangoes from the tree in the old courtyard for dinner and finished recording in under an hour.
“Momma” is the name of the song, written by Monsefi for his mother, harmonized with a melody inspired by “La Mamma,” the masterpiece by Charles Aznavour.
Tragically, no recording survives of Monsefi performing it himself. So we improvised.