An Evening with Vas (Cincinnati, 1998) 
by Thomas Gryn 


A couple of months ago, I drove down to Cincinnati to attend a 
concert by a group called "Vas". Vas is, at its core, two people: 
singer and dulcimer/santour player Azam Ali, and percussionist Greg 
Ellis. Ali's voice is singularly incredible, IMO, and was the first 
thing to attract me to Vas's music. However, over many listens, I 
have come to appreciate the remarkable percussion work and compositions 
of Ellis, also. 

I suppose, if one needed to put a label on their music, it might be a 
hybrid of jazz percussion with Persian/Indian music, but I'm not sure 
that quite does it justice, either. Ali sings in a unique dialect that 
is a mix of Persian, Hindi, and her own personal language. When asked 
about this at the concert, she explained it as "sometimes I seem to 
have more to express emotionally than verbally." The mix, while odd 
when described, works very well in practice.

Simply, it's the freshest music I've heard in the past five years. I 
loved their first CD, and anxiously waited for about a year to hear 
anything about any new music. I was, therefore, quite excited when, 
a couple of months ago, the radio program 'Echoes' started playing 
new material from Vas...and I discovered that a new album had been 
released. I was even more excited to find out that a public radio 
station in Cincinnati would be hosting an Echoes 'Living Room 
Concert,' featuring Vas, the weekend after my skydive. 

Echoes' Living Room Concerts are special broadcasts where the host 
of Echoes, John DiLiberto, visits an artist's home and records a 
live performance of their music on the spot; John described it as 
"where we go into people's homes, unplug their refrigerators, and 
forget to plug them in again." This was the first time, I think, 
that one of these concerts would be open to an audience, and according 
to Greg Ellis, it was the first time that the group was playing anything 
from their new recording to a live audience.

Particular alignment of the stars, I suppose. And one I couldn't pass 
up.

I arrived at the station, located on the campus of Xavier University, 
about a half-hour or so before the concert. The small audience, about 
30 or so people, received a tour of the station, including of the 
studio where the Echoes team was set up. We met DiLiberto, who's an 
amazingly big man for a fellow with such a soft voice; turns out he 
was an offensive tackle on his college football team. He was very 
cordial, and thanked us for coming out to see the concert. Then it 
was time to head into the recording studio for the performance. 

I always have two concerns when seeing a
musical group live for first time. First, can the 
group do at least as well live as on the CD, or
is the recorded music largely the result of 
good mixing and re-dubbing? And second, will the
artists be generally friendly, or people who are
good at what they do but impossible to stand
otherwise, through arrogance or such? 

The studio was quite small and intimate.
Large candles were alight throughout the room, 
and a huge Persian rug dominated the area where
Vas would be playing. And there were many, many
instruments, as Greg would later explain, quite
a few from Africa and the Middle East. Ali's
main instrument, other than her voice, is the 
hammered dulcimer; during an intermission, 
she explained that while she was trained 
on the santour, a Persian instrument, it is
too fragile to be relied on on tour, and
the dulcimer was much less delicate and able to
withstand the rigors of live performance.

The concert itself allayed my concerns
about the group. The music was, with only
a couple of exceptions, even *better* live,
and Ali's voice was, if anything, more incredible
for being in the moment. Some of the songs which
stood out were "Arc of Ascent," featuring a long
percussion duel between Greg and the other
percussionist; a new song entitled "Unbecoming,"
which introduced me to the concept of using the
cello as a percussive instrument(!); and the last
song, "Sunyata", that Ellis introduced with a
wicked smile as, "This is a long one," to much
applause from the audience. Their live version
was devastating superior to the recorded version, 
something I wouldn't ever have thought possible.
The complexities of how each player worked off
the others was a marvel to see in action.

In all, it was, as DiLiberto said, "A little piece of heaven."

It also gave me an understanding that Vas is,
above all, a collaboration, and was able to see
first-hand how the percussive work of Ellis 
perfectly complements the magnificent voice of
Ali. Truly, as Greg said afterwards, "Before we met, I had the rhythm 
without any melody, and she had the melody without rhythm. Together, 
it just fits perfectly." After the concert, Ellis stuck around for a 
while, explaining to the audience the origins of the various instruments, 
how he and Ali met, etc.

I was really impressed with both of them; they seemed like good people, 
who were humble and appreciative of the blessing of finding an audience 
that likes their work.

According to Greg, Vas is planning to tour early 
next year, and I'm going to make an attempt to see
as many of their concerts as possible, especially now that Dead Can Dance 
is no more. The recording of the concert is to be broadcast this Friday 
on Echoes; unfortunately, they only give a half-hour on the program for 
these things, so many of the longer songs probably won't be heard...but 
I'm excited. Should be interesting to see how the songs come out after 
going through the editing process.