Residues III. The Cheers of Dawn (بعد از لطفی و شجریان) (2025) – sinfonietta (12′)
*Commissioned by Alarm Will Sound & the Missouri International Composers Festival
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My series Residues explores music handed down to me by my father, Gholamreza Sabzghabaei, an Iranian immigrant who moved from Abadan, Iran to the United States in 1975. During this move, my father brought with him a series of CDs and tapes from Iran that meant a great deal to him. He played these for me on many weekend mornings; I would wake to their songs, the buzz of our cheap dual tape/CD player spilling the voices and sounds of Shajarian, Lotfi, and Delkash into the room as I ate breakfast. His death in 2016 left a void, but his memories, and these songs act as a continual balm, and a memory of a time and place precious to me in his absence.

This third work in the set, The Cheers of Dawn, springs from the optimism and chaotic joy that accompanies moments of wild and drastic change. The piece blossoms from a song by by Persian master tar player Mohammed Reza Lotfi & seminal poet Houshang Ebtehaj, Iran, ey sarā-ye omīd (Iran, O, House of Hope), also known as Sepīdeh (Dawn), featuring legendary vocalist Mohammed Reza Shajarian. The song was written at the cusp of the Revolution in 1979, riding the wave of optimism for a new future for Iran. Now, at a new juncture point for Iran, on the cusp of a new revolution, I offer this work in memory of the thousands who’ve lost their lives at the hands of the Regime. A new era draws near, one that bubbles from the rivers of blood that have been spilled for this moment: a future for remembering, mourning, and honoring, yes, but also for basking in the joy of freedom and the sunrise of a new day.

In this new work for Alarm Will Sound, the sounds of the buzzing speakers I grew up with reverberate throughout the work, and the breath, sighs, and groans of the people echo in the final, nostalgic solo from violinist & vocalist Courtney Orlando, accompanied by Chris Thompson’s bed of snare noise. Residues III. The Cheers of Dawn revels in the original’s exuberant celebration, its festive noisiness of incessant plucked strings, and the brightness of its bursting sunlight. Through close examination of the original recording and repeated fastidious listening & analysis, Residues III acts as an archaeology of joy emerging from reconcatenations of Lotfi’s initial, shining impulse.

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