Shirin Delsooz

My Life Adventures and Thoughts

Bluegrass Jam at Barfly, Montreal

A cool thing to do on a Sunday evening is to hang out with the gang at the Barfly for the bluegrass jam. It’s all you could ask for in a jam, the people are friendly, good vibes, cheap beer, and most of all, the music is great!

I’ve been there for the last while now to perform my favourites and jammed with cool people along the way and got the good old fashion southern hospitality. Not all of them have websites, but here are a few of the ones I managed to get. Check out their songs and buy them!:

Terry Joe – Multi-instrumentalist, banjo, mandolin, guitar and so much more.

The Bombadils – Their band has an interesting mix of Celtic and Bluegrass. Be sure to “like” them on facebook!

I will continue to add on to the list of musicians, so keep on coming back, or send over recommendations for anyone I may have missed!

 

Thanks to the following people…

A HUGE thanks to my cousin Anahita. She has worked so hard to get my music out there. No strings attached and no questions asked! I owe any regonition to her and only her! When she comes to Canada, I will be sure to take her to all the VIP rooms in every nightclub that exists in Montreal! And also, thanks to Tam for her hardwork and support!

Thanks to Bibliotheque National for their uncensored and speedy (and free) internet connection. Thanks to you, I was able to manage my online marketing campaign without worrying about how much gigabytes were transferring had I was running it at home. This library is a modern and nice working space that is quiet and equipped with a cheerful staff! Who needs an office when there are libraries like bibliotheque national? And on this subject, if you ever want to come by, say hi (or even help), I can be usually found on the second floor. Honourable mention: Second cup. On Mondays the library is closed, and I need to transfer a lot of data, they were there. I sat in the cafe for hours just doing that for the low cost of green tea, at $1.88.

Thanks to my former employers. Had it not been for their pay, I wouldn’t have been able to pay for music lessons, instruments, and recording!

Thanks to Charles Moffat for his support and insight to the online marketing world. He also took some photos of me in my Toronto days. He never turned me down when I asked him a favour! Never! Charles Moffat is an artist and activist. Check out his website.

Thanks to Mirage. The motivational quotes are better than the silly ones I found on my app. He said “life decisions are far better reached on own merits”.

Thanks to Reza. His encouragement boosted my confidence during a low point in life. He introduced me to an awesome photographer and coordinated the whole thing.

Thanks to Mojtaba for taking the pictures!

Thanks to the gang at the Black Swan and Mullins in Toronto, Ontario. I love playing Irish tunes, and having all those laughs! They were always interested in the weird stories of my personal life! I truly feel at home there!

Thanks to my cousin Reza Y. for being my first facebook fan!

Thanks to Seratone Studio. Many sound engineers I have worked on in the past tried to find clever ways to screw me over for money, never answer my phone calls or emails, and were not friendly what-so-ever, and the recording studios were on the sketchy side. I thought it was a sound engineering thing, or just bad luck. But then I met Simon and my perception has changed. That being said, if you ever need a sound engineer, you should check out Seratone Studio in Montreal!!!

Thanks to all the musicians who participated in the project and their commitment and creative input!

Thanks to all my music teachers, Ed Bernard, Gretchen H., Patrick O., and David B. I also like to thank Emory Lester for his great mandolin workshop at Goderich Celtic Roots Festival 2010.

I’m sure I have forgotten others, so I will regularly update this post with many more thanks!

 

Must Have Music Apps for Android

I recently got an Android Nexus S, and one of the first things I did was search high and low for the best music apps. After downloading a few good ones and a few bad ones, I came to this conclusion. Here are my top five favourite music apps:

  1. Practice Makes Perfect. Slow down a song without losing pitch. Loop certain sections. Set to repeat. This has sharpened my ear to a level I never knew I could achieve!
  2. Perfect Ear. This app has many exercise to sharpen the ear. Decipher between minor and major, practice singing harmonies, and more.
  3. Musical Pro. Metronome, pitchpipe, all the basic tools for a musician.
  4. Jam Box. Any chord and any scale on guitar visually and audibly!
  5. gStrings. This app functions as a tuner. You can use it to tune your guitar (or mandolin, or violin).

 

Persian Gypsy Music

I recently went to Iran and had the rather unexpected pleasure of listening to the gypsy kids playing music on the streets. I could never find a recording of this music in any store, so I recorded it with my camera.

I have more footage that I will upload on youtube in the coming weeks.