Sevdaliza: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It’s the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. Bob Boilen | January 5, 2021 “Good afternoon humans, my name is Sevdaliza, you’re very welcome on flight 808; our destination is Shabrang.“ And so begins our elegant, ethereal journey. We hear an old reel-to-reel tape machine spinning some Brazilian bossa nova sounds, then shift to something more somber. Sevdaliza is seated, the tones are golden and brown, and her yearning voice sings, “I am flesh, bones / I am skin, soul / I am human.“ The song, “Human,“ which casts away the notion of artists — particularly female artists — as products. It’s a defiant stand from this Iranian-born artist. Sevdaliza is an original, a truly creative soul. Her collaborators play delicate textures — elec