Wayfinder by Mohamed Assani

Wayfinder is an act of gathering and discovery. It is the story of a musician-explorer who has journeyed the world and now has come home to empty his pockets and share his treasures.

Contemporary Polynesians refer to Wayfinders as the ‘astronauts of our ancestors’. These navigators found their way by watching celestial bodies, listening to winds, feeling the swell of waves slapping on the hull of the canoe. They tried to be like birds, because birds always have a relation with the edges of the horizon.

Musical traveller Mohamed Assani takes his sitar in a completely new and unexpected direction— bringing together unforeseen musical worlds in an original album that relentlessly pushes at the frontiers of cultural and musical hybridity. Using a refreshing, contemporary sound palette, Wayfinder incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including Indian/Pakistani Classical, Middle Eastern music, jazz, funk, Western harmony, ambient & electronic music and more. Both acoustic and electronic, it features sitar, tabla, mridangam, kanjira, mbira, voice and electronic sounds. It has been produced by Emmy and Juno-nominated music producer, Adham Shaikh.

This album of original music was created over many nights, between midnight and 5am, in the middle of the rainforest in the Kootenay Mountains of B.C., Canada. There were bears and cougars and other wildlife always close by and that wild atmosphere is captured in the music.

REVIEWS:

“This music is nothing short of bewitching. It surprises, delights and leaves the listener lifted,overwhelmed yet strangely calm. Not only can I understand how people are bewitched by this music, I might be myself.” — Jazz Views 

"The way Mohamed Assani has manipulated, caressed and amalgamated so many different styles under the watchful rule of his sitar playing is nothing short of mesmeric. A unique and surprising record that will take you places you’ve never been before." - Vinyl Chapters

 'With his masterful playing of the sitar both grounding and lifting up the tone of each song,Assani explores multiple genres both in EDM and in world music, marrying them all together in an album that certainly lives up to its name'. Musicians like Assani who are seeking to unify music are the true “wayfinders” of this planet as they continue to inspire and show us the way.”- YOUREDM 

Mohamed Assani is an award-winning sitar player and composer, known for being a proactive ambassador for his rich musical tradition. He has brought the sitar to new audiences through innovative, genre-bending collaborations. According to the Georgia Straight, "Assani is both deeply rooted in the artistic traditions of South Asia and a one-of-a-kind innovator."

mohamedassani.com