Haale

Haale Gafori is an Iranian-American singer, composer, and poet living in New York City. She was born in the Bronx, to Persian parents.

Her music has been described as "Psychedelic Sufi Trance Rock" and features Haale singing original lyrics in English as well as excerpts of Persian poetry by poets like Rumi and Sohrab Sepehri in the Persian language.

Haale released two five-song EP recordings, "Morning" and "Paratrooper", on January 3rd, 2007 on the Darya Records imprint that were produced by Dougie Bowne.

On March 18, 2008, Haale released "No Ceiling," her first full-length album. The 10-song album contains several songs the band has been performing live. On this album, Haale worked with producer/percussionist Matt Kilmer.

Upbringing

Haale grew up across the Eastern United States: in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, PA, Morgantown, West Virginia; Fort Lee and Tenafly, New Jersey. She was surrounded by her parent’s extensive library of world literature where books by Anton Chekhov, James Joyce, Federico García Lorca, and William Burroughs were found alongside the Persian poets Rumi and Hafez — whose lyrics she would later incorporate in some of her own songs. Although she began singing at the age of 9, Haale experienced a hiatus from her musical pursuits that lasted until her college years when she picked up the guitar and started writing songs for the first time.

Education

Haale attended Stanford University in California and earned a BS in Biology. She graduated in the Honors Society of Phi Beta Kappa and was accepted into Harvard Medical School, but never attended. She completed a semester at Oxford University during which she studied race relations in the UK.

Haale also attended the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado where Anne Waldman was teaching. She earned her MFA in poetry at the City College of New York where worked closely with poet Marilyn Hacker. She received an Academy of American Poets Prize and a Goodman Grant for poetry. Her poems and translations have been published in various journals including Ratapallax.

Musical career

After college, Haale moved to San Francisco and then New York City, and played with an an array of musicians, including Andrew Wyatt and Keith Carlock. In New York City, she met downtown producer Dougie Bowne who produced her 2007 EP recordings, ‘Morning’ and ‘Paratrooper,’ on which Sean Lennon makes a special appearance on the track ‘Before the Skies.’ She began touring across the US, with shows in Canada and Europe, upon the release of the EPs.

With percussionist Matt Kilmer, and guitarist John Shannon, Haale performed ninety shows in her first year of touring, which included the Bonnaroo festival, a David Byrne curated series at Carnegie Hall, the Mimi Festival in Marseilles France and various rock clubs, festivals, and universities across the country. When Haale returned from touring, she began recording her debut album ‘No Ceiling’ with percussionist Matt Kilmer, who engineered, produced, and mixed the album. Featuring ten songs that include ‘Zero to One,’ ‘Middle of Fire,’ ‘Ay Dar Shekasteh,’ and ‘Off Duty Fortune Teller,’ the album was released March 18, 2008 to critical acclaim. Haale continues to tour and is working on her new album and a multi-media piece.

Discography

Albums
No Ceiling (Channel A Music -- March 18, 2008)

EPs
Paratrooper (Darya -- January 3, 2007)
Morning (Darya -- January 3, 2007)

Compilation Appearances
One Giant Leap (2008)
Caravan of Light (2007)
Sandanista! –The Clash Tribute album (2minutes59--2007)

References

External links

* [http://www.haale.com Web site of Haale]
* [http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2008/05/06/haales_sound_stretches_from_new_york_to_iran/ Boston Globe article on Haale]
* [http://haale.com/img/Haale.pdf Scan of New York Times photo and article on Haale's Carnegie Hall appearance]
* "The Second Supper" [http://secondsupper.com/Music/Reviews/Article.aspx?ArticleID=392 Review of "No Ceiling"]