Azam Ali
Iranian musician (born 1970)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Azam Ali (Persian: اعظم علی) is an Iranian musician. She has released music as a solo artist as well as with the bands VAS, Roseland, and Niyaz.
3 October 1970
- Musician
- songwriter
- Vocals
- hammered dulcimer
- frame drum
- riqq
- zill
- chan chan
- guitar
- psaltery
- bendir
Azam Ali | |
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Ali in 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Azam Aliafgerad 3 October 1970 Tehran, Iran |
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| Labels | |
| Member of | Niyaz |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | azamalimusic |
Biography
Born in Tehran on 3 October 1970, Ali spent most of her childhood in Panchgani, India.[1] She and her mother moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1985. Ali studied the santoor under Persian master Manoochehr Sadeghi, which led her to discover her voice.[2]
Projects and collaborations
In 1996, Ali formed the "alternative world" group Vas with percussionist Greg Ellis after they met a year prior at a concert at UCLA. The project was active until 2004.[1] Ali and her husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, are part of another group, Niyaz, an Iranian acoustic electronic project.[3][4] Between 2003 and 2007, she formed one half of the duo Roseland, together with American musician and composer Tyler Bates.
In 2005, Ali was featured on Enter the Chicken, a 2005 Buckethead and Friends album, singing the song "Coma" with Serj Tankian.[5]
In 2006, she appeared on Nefes/Breath, an album by Turkish ney player and DJ Mercan Dede, singing the song "Dem."
Solo career
In 2002, Ali released her first solo album, Portals of Grace.[6] This was followed in 2006 by Elysium for the Brave, which reached No. 10 on Billboard's World Albums chart on 23 September 2006.[7] Ali's third album, From Night to the Edge of Day (2011), is a collection of lullabies inspired by her son.[8] Lamentation of Swans – A Journey Towards Silence (2013), her fourth album, is a joint effort with her husband that began in 2009.[citation needed]
In 2003, she sang the song "Inama Nushif" in the fictional Fremen language for the soundtrack to the Syfy mini-series Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, written by Brian Tyler.[9] In 2006, her vocals were featured in the movie 300.[10] In 2007, she composed the score to the video game [11] In 2011, she was heard several times on the soundtrack of Uncharted 3. In 2012, she was the vocalist for Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game tech demo Agni's Philosophy.[12] In 2013, she provided vocals for the soundtrack to the film Thor: The Dark World.[13]
On 31 May 2019, Ali announced her next album, the self-produced Phantoms, along with its first single and music video, "Hope".[14] The next single was the album's title track, which was released on 12 July.[15] The record came out on 13 September.
Discography
Solo
Studio albums
- Portals of Grace (2002)
- Elysium for the Brave (2006)
- From Night to the Edge of Day (2011)
- Lamentation of Swans – A Journey Towards Silence (2013) [Credited to Azam Ali and Loga R Torkian]
- Phantoms (2019)
- Synesthesia (2025)
Soundtracks
Other albums
- Green Memories with Shahrokh Yadegari and Keyavash Nourai (2008)
- When We Were Gods with Loga Torkian (2023)[16]
with VAS
- Sunyata (1997)
- Offerings (1998)
- In the Garden of Souls (2000)
- Feast of Silence (2004)
with Niyaz
- Niyaz (2005)
- Nine Heavens (2008)
- Sumud (2012)
- Sumud Acoustic EP (2013)
- The Fourth Light (2015)
with Roseland
- Roseland (2007)
Contributions
- "Form 3", "Form 6" Kala Rupa Explorations in Rhythm (Greg Ellis, 2001)
- "Inama Nushif" Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003)
- "Coma" Enter the Chicken (Buckethead and Friends, 2005)
- "Dem" Nefes/Breath (Mercan Dede, 2006)
- "The Cold Black Key" Where's Neil When You Need Him? (2006)
- 300 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Tyler Bates, 2007)
- "Nargis" Exilarch (Conjure One, 2010)
- Final Fantasy – Agni's Philosophy (2012)
- Thor: The Dark World (Brian Tyler, 2013)
