Dia Prometido "Dia Prometido" 1971**

I found this at the "psychedelic rock" session, although it's neither rock nor psychedelia. The mislabeling has caused me to be a little negative in my rating, I'm afraid. Based on the liner notes, I was expecting something akin to Orient Express or Kaleidoscope (US). Instead what you get here is similar to the Lord Sitar album from the 60's: easy listening and pop hits performed with traditional instruments. That album (to be presented, sometime) is usually dismissed as psych-sploitation riding the wagon of the Beatles' infatuation with the sitar and India in general. Here the sitar is replaced by what the liner notes identify as a psalter and which Greeks and Asians will recognize as santur(i). It is indeed descended from an ancient Greek instrument sometimes called psaltery or canon - whence the modern Greek name for one of its variations, canonaki. Various versions of the instrument are also to be found in Turkish, Arabian, Persian and Indian traditional music. Western variations include the zither, dulcimer and autoharp and were popular with British acid-folk groups of the time. These are nevertheless strummed with the hand and sound quite different from the santur, whose strings are struck with a couple of wooden mini-hammers. For all purposes, this is probably the first use of santur outside Middle Eastern or Greek folk music. The player is an Iranian with the very un-Persian name of Guillermo Polo. He is joined by a Chilean guitarist and Spanish rhythm section while the album was recorded in Spain and simultaneously released in Spain and Iran. It's one of very few Iranian pop albums I'm aware of, although neither "pop" nor "Iranian" is an accurate description. It starts off with Mozart's "Symphony No 40 In G Minor" and immediately achieves its goal, if that goal is to convince you of the instrument's expressive capabilities outside oriental forms. "The Windmills Of Your Mind" benefits from a sprightly jazz arrangement including organ and flute, but "One Note Samba" isn't quite the harmonious marriage of East & West its makers doubtlessly envisioned. Beatles songs like "Something" and "And I Love Her" sound a bit like elevator music, a feeling I often get when pop/rock hits are given the instrumental treatment (Did I mention that the album is completely instrumental?). Soundtrack themes like "A Time For Us", "Love Story" or "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" are much more natural in this setting. "Sounds Of Silence" is the one song where the record approaches psychedelia, thanks to some electric guitar and more pronounced bass and drums. I decided to give the album a 2* rating because it's marketed as psychedelic rock, which it isn't. Neither does it offer an introduction to Persian music and culture, as the compositions are all standards of Western music. As an Easy Listening collection, it has it merits: It's well played and the use of the santur is a novelty worth hearing. Too bad I'm not a fan of Lounge music... 

**** for Symphony No 40 In G Minor, The Windmills Of Your Mind, A Time For Us

*** for Concerto per Una Voce, Love Story, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, Sounds Of Silence

** for One Note Samba, Something, Airport Love Theme, And I Love Her, Yesterday When I Was Young