Galoba (which means “chant” in Georgia) is the first solo album from musician Milad Bagheri, one half of the experimental/electronic duo NUM. Bagheri and his partner, Maryam Sirvan (who has made multiple releases as a solo musician as well) are from northern Iran, but have been an active fixture of Tbilisi’s experimental scene over the past few years. Galoba emerged from Bagheri’s work recording concerts of traditional Georgian Christmas music at the Tbilisi State Conservatory. According to Bagheri, while listening back to the recordings, he “found the music soothing and peaceful...It came to my mind to compose some electro-acoustic pieces out of those recordings.”
While already sketching and working on the project, he was invited to a special concert in the thousand-year-old Samtavisi Cathedral. The album is composed using only five phrases from the Tbilisi Conservatoire concert, materials from his recordings at the historical church, and small pieces of field recordings made by Bagheri and Sirvan during the last two years in Georgia.
The album is available now on cassette and digitally via the Flag Day Records bandcamp.
