More than just a debut album from a gifted young storyteller, Ariana Delawari’s “Lion of Panjshir” is a psychedelic folk journey with a very interesting story behind it. Recorded in both Kabul and Los Angeles, Delawari’s own guitar, piano, and vocal melodies are soaked in classical Afghan rhythms and echoes of Laurel Canyon rock & roll. Delawari delivers a fresh and impassioned sound that exudes a universal spirit.

Delawari’s choice to record “Lion of Panjshir” in Afghanistan came with a phone call in February 2007: “It was my mother from Kabul telling me that the Taliban was starting to gain power again,” she says. As part of a reconstruction effort, Delawari’s parents had returned to Afghanistan in 2002; she herself had been going back and forth since then, diligently documenting her travels in photographs and film. The call though, signaled what might be a last opportunity for her: “At this particular moment I had a feeling that things were shifting- that I may never have the chance to record there again.” Three months later she and her bandmates Max Guirand and Paloma Udovic found themselves at her parents house in Kabul. Under the protection of two guards (AK 47s), they recorded the album right in the Delawari household. They collaborated with three Afghan Ustads: a tabla player, a rabab player, and an 88-year-old dilruba player, the last living master of his instrument. Under previous Taliban rule these talented musicians had once dismantled and hid their instruments due to a ban on music. Delawari and her band spent several days rehearsing and recording with them. The album was then finished in Los Angeles, featuring additional guest musicians and mixed by David Lynch. The album also includes one song “Suspend Me” produced by Lynch himself. The name “Lion of Panjshir” is an homage to the Afghan revolutionary Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Her previous recordings include the song “Crazy for You”, part of a Madonna tribute released by Manimal Vinyl. Delawari is also a member of the LA Ladies Choir, whose first album will be coming out soon on Teenage Teardrops. Delawari both sings and plays guitar on the album.

Delawari is a multi-media artist; in addition to her music she is also an actress, photographer, and filmmaker. A graduate of USC Film School, she’s currently co-directing a documentary about her family’s involvement in Afghanistan, and the making of her album there with Emily Lynch.

-David Lynch

Music by Stephen Michael Hogan. StephenMHoganAudio@gmail.com

This was a rare treat, as new paintings from Mr. Lynch have not been on display in the U.S. for over a decade. With the most recent piece completed just 2 months prior to the opening…it is in fact, the most recent example of Mr. Lynch’s artistic vision as a painter. The artist has also found a new medium to work with that he is very excited about. Cardboard.

Rich – “What was it about cardboard that caught your attention?”

Lynch – “Cardboard for me, it’s a texture, it’s a color, and it takes materials in a most organic way…and I like it very, very much.”

Monumental is an appropriate term for the six paintings at the core of this exhibit, as they are truly that, both in imagery, scope, as well as size, weighing around 300 pounds each. They are each displayed in a shadow box that was inspired by the artist Francis Bacon, a key influence on Lynch’s artistic life.

Rich – “I heard through the grapevine, that even these frames were Bacon inspired.”

Lynch – “I went to the Marlborough gallery in New York City in the 60’s. I don’t know if it was ’67 or ’66 … I think it was 67, I don’t know, Marlborough gallery…I walked in, I almost passed out. The work was so incredible…and it was framed in a similar way to this. Glass floating in front of the paint… gold leaf frames… And it just, the whole presentation just shot me through the roof and I said, if I ever get any money…I wanna frame my stuff like that. They were destined for this kind of frame. And the thing is, they’ll live in this frame now. Whatever happens to ‘em, they’ll live in this frame. It’s like their house. “

When asked what will happen to the paintings after the exhibition, Mr. Lynch responds with a laugh, “Um…they’re close to 300 lbs each…the paintings…and I need a crane to get’em in my house… you gotta help me sell these things.”

Incidentally, if you’d like to buy one of the Lynch pieces…they are for sale.

• Brian Rich
• brich@conltrolledburnfilm.com

Producer/Director – Brian Rich

1^st A.D./Editor – Flavia Zanini

Cameras  – Mike Ansbach, Michael Dean

Sound – Evan Freeman

Music provided by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, and The Flaming Lips

Special Thanks:

Laura Dern, Roger Corman, Martha Levacy, Steve Cole

http://www.unicef.org/index.php

http://www.dangermousesite.com/

http://www.sparklehorse.com/

http://www.flaminglips.com

David is in Paris, the rest of the film crew has scattered to their homes or work places throughout India, and I have a day off in Mumbai before my flight to JFK at 1:30 am tonight (technically, tomorrow, but who’s counting?).

Here are some random silly thoughts upon reflection:

1. I don’t drink coca cola in the States, but oh, my, when water is suspect and the heat is overbearing, there ain’t nuthin’ like it… and what bug can survive a cold coke?
2. I know how ridiculous that must sound to everyone in the midwest and east coast (and Europe) who are enduring freezing temps…
3. Indian television for a westerner: not so good.
4. I have about ten pounds of dust in my lungs. If I weighed myself that would be confirmed, I am sure.
5. I don’t like haggling over prices. I want to get some gifts to take home, but feel exhausted at the prospect of either (a) dueling over rupees (b) feeling like I just overpaid for something by 1000 percent.
6. My standard joke which drove David and everyone crazy during the trip as we were winding our way through tiny villages: “Hey, I know a good Indian restaurant in the next town.” It was never funny, but that did not dissuade me from ramming it down everyone’s throats, repeatedly.
7. More thanks to my angels of safe travels (and a safe diet). I never got sick. Yay!
8. India is a study in geographical and cultural contrasts, and we experienced it in a compactified way.
   • First, we helicoptered north from Delhi into the Himalayas to Uttarkashi and Jyotir Math… Pure, cool (but not yet piercing cold), thin air and an ancient feeling–like the mountains themselves—despite the repeated onslaught of the modern world.
   • Next we flew from Delhi to Allahabad and Jabalpur, which are in the center of the country… Arid–hot and dry–air and the modern world has taken hold… mainly traffic has taken hold… and blue jeans and mtv…
   • Finally, we flew from Delhi through Bangalore to Madurai in the south and then drove to Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, and Trivendrum… Hot, humid air; more people wear traditional garb of saris and dhotis, and for some reason there are a lot of goats.
9. Delhi is the Chicago O’Hare Airport of India. Basically, to fly anywhere you have to go through Delhi.
10. In Trivendrum, we saw a lot of Catholic churches and Muslim mosques as well as Hindu temples… and a lot of huge billboards with the Communist party’s hammer and sickle… Until recently, there were even a lot of Jews in nearby towns as well… There is a lot going on there, it seems…

More considered thoughts, upon reflection

1. We went to a lot of places, but one that stands out in my mind: Allahabad University, sitting on wooden benches behind wooden desks in a 100-year-old lecture hall listening to a physics professor speak on Einstein’s theory of relativity.
2. The head of the physics department later told us this is where Maharishi, who attended Allahabad University, would have sat as an undergraduate student studying physics, math, and chemistry.
3. Maharishi always talked science, and it must have been here that he gained his initial understandings of physics and science—an understanding which informed his work over the next 50 or 60 years to bring meditation and consciousness into the scientific mainstream.
4. One of the Indian cameraman traveling with us said that some people in India view gurus as god-like. He asked David if he felt that way about Maharishi. David said he felt that Maharishi had attained the highest level of development for any human being–enlightenment–and that as a meditation teacher, Maharishi had the ability to impart the knowledge so that any human being could do the same thing. So David’s answer was, No.

That’s it for now, but more to come. I have a 16-hour (head winds permitting) Air India flight to JFK coming up and I have to meditate and pack and get ready to go. Yikes!

Thanks for listening,
Bobby