Azam Ali

Biography

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.

Biography

Born in Tehran on 3 October 1970, Ali spent most of her childhood in Panchgani, India. 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.

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. Ali and her husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, are part of another group, Niyaz, an Iranian acoustic electronic project. 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.
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×Portals of Grace30 July 2002 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 11 tracks1Lasse pour quoi6:212La Serena4:323Breton Medley3:574O Felix5:195Ben Pode Santa Maria3:096O Quanta Qualia3:597Sackpipslät2:418Aj Ondas5:139A Chantar m'er6:3110Inna-l-Malak5:2311El Rey de Francia4:31. This was followed in 2006 by Elysium for the Brave, which reached No. 10 on Billboard's World Albums chart on 23 September 2006. Ali's third album, From Night to the Edge of Day×From Night to the Edge of Day12 April 2011 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Noor (The Light in My Eyes)4:532Dandini4:093Nami Nami5:164Neni Desem6:255Shrin5:326Mehman (The Guest)5:277Faith5:528Tenderness6:409Lai Lai3:4010Faith (reprise)3:02 (2011), is a collection of lullabies inspired by her son. Lamentation of Swans – A Journey Towards Silence (2013), her fourth album, is a joint effort with her husband that began in 2009.
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. In 2006, her vocals were featured in the movie 300. In 2007, she composed the score to the video game Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow. 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. In 2013, she provided vocals for the soundtrack to the film Thor: The Dark World.
On 31 May 2019, Ali announced her next album, the self-produced Phantoms×Phantoms9 August 2019 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Hope5:462Phantoms6:343The Blue6:154Tender Violet7:335Twilight Sheds5:286Ode to Melancholy4:517Shallow Then Halo4:408Scattered Stars6:149Love Is a Layrinth5:59, along with its first single and music video, "Hope". The next single was the album's title track, which was released on 12 July. The record came out on 13 September.