Ashavahishta

Arash Adelpour is a songwriter, vocalist, performer, producer and sound engineer — and the creative force at the heart of Ashavahishta. Born in 1973 to parents involved in television programming, he learned English and music from his mother from a very early age — melodica at three, accordion at seven, and the guitar by the age of twelve.

During his school years, Arash developed a deep interest in psychology and parapsychology alongside a passion for rock music, attending guitar lessons and playing classical guitar. He experimented across classical, jazz, blues, rock and heavy metal, while studying harmony, modern harmony, twentieth-century harmony, forms, orchestration, and songwriting. He performed as a bass-baritone for four years and formed a grunge band, Brainwash, in his freshman year at university.

In 1993, a pivotal meeting with electronic music artist and producer Payman Abdali drew Arash into a new world of sound design and recording. Combining elements of rock, heavy metal, electronic, experimental, world music and fusion, he began searching for his own voice — a search resolved when he heard Stephan Micus's Ocean, which inspired him to create works blending all the styles he loved, performed by an acoustic ensemble.

As the musical director of Ashavahishta, Arash composes, arranges, and performs across the group's Awakening, The Ring, and the upcoming The Sword. He is also a male vocalist within the group, weaving Rumi's poetry into the band's trance-ambient soundscape. His acclaimed solo work, Ultimate Reality Towards Divinity, further established him as a distinctive voice in the world of mystical and world fusion music.

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A driving force behind the unmistakable sound of Ashavahishta, Mohammadali Delnavaz is a master performer of the Benju — the Balochi keyed zither that gives the music its distinctive twang and trance-like drone.

The Benju has a remarkable origin story. It began as the taishōgoto, a Japanese toy harp brought to the shores of Balochistan by sailors in the early 20th century. In the hands of Baloch musicians, this humble toy was transformed: enlarged to nearly a meter in length, fitted with six strings and a row of mechanical keys, and given a deeper, more resonant body. Today it stands as the national instrument of Balochistan — a keyboard-fitted zither capable of rich overtones, shimmering shadow-notes, and remarkable melismatic virtuosity.

The player's two hands divide the labor: the left presses the keys to fret the melody strings, while the right strums across drone strings with a plectrum. The result is a hypnotic texture — at once ancient and otherworldly — that has become the signature sound of Balochi folk music across Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

On the Ashavahishta albums, Delnavaz brings this centuries-spanning tradition into the heart of the band's mystical World Trance sound, his Benju weaving through Persian poetry, Sufi rhythm, and contemporary arrangement with extraordinary depth.

The Ring — Album Details

Instrumentation: Soaring Female and Male Lead Vocals, Benju, Duduk, Daf, Tenor Recorder Flute, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Keyboards, Programming, Bass, Drums.

Tracks

• 1. Toward the Beloved Vocals: Nashmin · 5:21
• 2. Exile Vocals: Arash Adelpour · 6:04
• 3. Dada Vocals: Nashmin · 1:15
• 4. The Innermoon Vocals: Parisa Vaaleh · 3:34
• 5. Titanali Vocals: Ustad Delnavaz · 6:01
• 6. Epiphany Vocals: Nashmin · 4:22
• 7. Salvation Vocals: Arash Adelpour · 4:14
• 8. Entranced Vocals: Parisa Vaaleh · 5:56
• 9. Euphoria Vocals: Arash Adelpour · 4:54
• 10. Wadar Vocals: Ustad Delnavaz · 6:08

Item #1070

Tracks

• 1. The Promise 5:08
• 2. Divine Love 4:58
• 3. Darvish 5:29
• 4. The Return 5:23
• 5. Sweet Agony, Pt. I 3:46
• 6. Yell Off 4:49
• 7. The Treasure Within 5:47
• 8. Ascending 2:26
• 9. Unworldly Ones 5:47
• 10. Sweet Agony, Pt. II 4:00
• 11. Rapture 4:50
• 12. Ecstasy 7:21

UPC Code: 759145101829  •  Item # 1018-2