Iranian Music (All Kinds)

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http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/elahi.ostad.html

http://www.emptywords.org/VoicesFromIranbook.htg/BookCover.jpg

I also scored a Persian new wave comp a while ago, sort of a Bloodstains Across Iran, with garage-y tracks by Dark Earth, Fat Rats, and Mud.

There were quite a lot of rock bands during the go-go '70s, before the fall of the Shah. I'd like to get my hands on some of those records.

i've only heard of two contemporary ppl: a NYC artist called Haale who mixes trad stuff with rock, jazz, brazilian and electronic; and Azam Ali who sings in this group called Vas but the album of her's I've heard is this tribute to medieval western music but mixed with trad Persian and Indian (where she grew up. Interesting album actually.

I've also got around here somewhere a Mohammed Reza Shadjarian CD thay you {RS} may or may not have heard... It's the "Persian Classical" installment of the World Network series. I'm not sure if World Network is also the label or just a series on another label. My copy is burned, so I can't check. But if you haven't heard it and want a copy, let me know. It's three tracks:

1. Moquaddameh (Ouverture): Tchekad 11:17
2. Awaz, Based On A Poem Of Sa'di 25:30
3. "Doktharake Julideh" (instrumental)/Mesnewi, Based On A Poem Of Sa'di/Tasnif, Based On The Poem "Sobhe Saghi" 32:12

http://www.iranianradio.com/listen.php

Mohammed Reza Shajarian has a new CD out on a western label, Bidad (Injustice).

http://www.haale.com

I like her.

http://www.worldvillagemusic.com/anglais/artistesfiche.php?artist_id=28

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006L3PJ/

European & US tour dates are here:

http://www.worldvillagemusic.com/anglais/agenda.php?artist_id=28

http://www.hermesrecords.com/Bcat.htm

(It's "World Music" week on ILM. No really, for one thing I just happened to be combing through the most recent Songlines this week.)

I guess it's basic modern, Sohrab Mohebbi sings in English.
http://127band.com/music.html
I quite liked "Leaving."

http://www.hermesrecords.com/

Yes, this is very short notice, but for those of you in or near Philadelphia, the Dastan Ensemble will be performing at the Free Library of Philadelphia (Central Library, at 1901 Vine Street), at 6PM tonight (11/11/07). $30 admission. This is a fairly prestigious ensemble performing Persian classical music.

http://www.dastan.net/_web/en.html

wow...I wish I could go to that. their 'endless ocean' album is somewhere slightly beyond wonderful.

Sadly, I'm not too much in the mood for this concert. I'll probably make a last minute decision one way or another.

"Mohammed Reza Shajarian has a new CD out on a western label, Bidad (Injustice)."

Actually this is an new CD of old music (1984 concert according to the disc). It's great.

this is pretty incredible:

alireza mashayekhi / ata ebtekar / the iranian orchestra for new music “ornamental” double long playing record set

http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/artists/ata+ebtekar.html

mashayekhi's pieces for acoustic orchestra, rerecorded to multitrack and completely transformed with filters / ringmod / DSP processing until it's just some kind of beast. the tuning scales are still present and interact really beautifully with the processing, ringmod responds really well when it's given an interval that's actually in tune

it's coming out on CD on sub rosa soon but the vinyl cover is lush

Looks amazing.

It does. (If I manage to get my hands on some money this year, I've got a lot to buy.)

I don't know anything about Iranian music, but I have been totally obsessed with the Kourosh Yaghmaei compliation, Back from the Brink, released last year on Now Again records. Mostly mournful, soulful, heavy pre revolutionary psych jams with western rock instrumentation.

Now listening to alireza mashayekhi which sounds pretty cool.

Sounds interesting. There's also posts about Iranian music on this
thread:

Arab, Persian, Sufi music

I am curious about Iranian pop singer Gogoosh. Anyone know anything about her? SHe's touring North America now

I watched a number of youtube videos. I think her appeal is probably to a 30 and up age bracket now. I like her voice. The videos from a recent show where she is singing with a flamenco-like guitarist are nice. There's a certain sadness in her tone that outweighs the chart-pop bombast she also ocassionally offers. She's gonna be at DAR Constitution Hall (a fairly big venue) in Washington DC Sat. March 17.

I need to read this thread too:

Dream of an Iranian music revival

googoosh fans are more like 40+

persians in their 30s generally grew up somewhere other than iran and don't listen much to iranian pop

as far as iranian pop goes, googoosh is the undisputed #1, kinda like oum kalsoum in egypt or like aretha franklin and diana ross rolled into one

that is more a statement about popularity and prominence than quality though

i think she's great but i don't really like much post-revolution iranian (or iranian diaspora) pop, including her stuff post-70s

from what I understand though she does concerts like the stones an does stuff from all eras

Thanks

I just found this article that tells her story.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/10/29/PK115009.DTL&ao=all

From 1970 to 1979, Googoosh was Iran's top pop star, combining the sophisticated vocal power of a Barbra Streisand with the trendsetting fashion consciousness of a Madonna.

At her height, Googoosh generated the fanatical devotion of a Marilyn Monroe or an Elvis Presley. Her albums were best-sellers in Central Asia, Turkey, Iraq, Soviet Russia, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. During Tajikistan's first democratic elections, she outpolled many candidates on the strength of write-in ballots cast by disillusioned voters.

good article

barbara / madonna / marilyn / elvis are all pretty decent comparisons but even they don't have the sort universal appeal and approval that googoosh has

i have literally never heard one bad thing said about the woman

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6586

http://www.nowagainrecords.com/they-knew-how-to-rock-in-iran-by-jessica-hundley-published-in-the-la-times-on-sunday-08-21-11/

Googoosh is gonna be in DC again in March at a 5,000 seat hall for $80 bucks for the cheap seats and more for the already sold-out orchestra seats. I'd like to see her live but probably won't go (unless I can score press sets)

Solo dutar music from Zulfaqar Askarian, tape is called "Taknavaz Dotar". I'm not sure if it's improvisation, or is sectioned out. Really really great stuff though. I love solo performances like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LLb3Hf1qOE

You can also find it here at this great blog of Eastern tapes and lps

listening to a lot of mohammad reza shajarian and/or kayhan kalhor lately, these are all incredible:

http://player.ecmrecords.com/uploads/kayhan-kalhor--erdal-erzincan---kula-kulluk-yakr-m/cover.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/3692368/Mohammad+Reza+Shajarian++Kayhan+Kalhor+FOLDER.jpg
http://www.hosseinalizadeh.net/superusers/54/works/zemestan.jpg
http://www.siue.edu/~ejoy/Ghazal_Album.jpg
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/958/MI0001958232.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

Ghazal back together -8 city North American tour. Ghazal is a band formed by Kurdish-Iranian kamencheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Indian sitarist and occasional vocalist Shujaat Khan, and Indian tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri. Different tabla player now

Love their album The Rain. Seductive and moody and melancholy but never dull (occasional noisy Persian fiddle and Indian sitar runs)

I don't know enough about their music to say whether its more Iranian or Indian/Hindustani

Kalhor is now touring with Ghazal's current tabla player, but no Shujaat Khan.

Kayhan Kalhor's energetic, fervent bowing of his Persian kamancheh (spike fiddle) last night w/ tabla player Sandeep Das @ 6th & I in DC was great

I'm curious how the expat Persian music (like Azam Ali/Niyaz) fares in Teheran. If the videos from Teheran I've seen are any indication, its a world of secretive house parties, with electro house music.

Pretty sure its secretive house parties. I saw tradition Persian singer Mahsa Vadat here in Washington DC (they let her tour and perform in the US amazingly) and she said that as a woman, she is only allowed to do private house gigs at home in Iran. I think she also does singing lessons the same way. The DC suburbs have a large Iranian population. They were at the gig I saw the other night. Kayhan Kalhor has lived in NYC for awhile now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjImkbgt-xU

(Just stumbled across, know nothing about.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ankNgeQZ5Wc

12 years ago I saw Mahsa Vadat sing . Her website suggests she finally left Iran and now lives in the Bay area in the US . Here’s a 2023 video. I know some still call this Persian music as they don’t want to acknowledge the current authoritarian government in their home country ( which also had its share of issues under the Shah).

Quite enjoying the recent album Mementos by composer Aso Kohzadi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAUKNMEjSXk

Hesam Inanlou's Amid is one of my favorite of the decade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU11Lpj9Qho

Thanks bendy, will check 'em out...

If folks are interested, I'll keep them coming.

Gelareh Pour mixes chamber indie with kamanche

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIuv3G5ouAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlfRur3OwK0

Really love the way Shahram Gholami mixes in some sort of string buzz or other extended technique in this oud piece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPIhHO9Y5Fk

Oh yeah:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1323190754_16.jpg

https://discotchari.bandcamp.com/album/tehrangeles-vice-iranian-diaspora-pop-1983-1993

Available October 17th, 2025 on vinyl and as digital download, Discotchari is delighted to release a first-of-its-kind various artists compilation: Tehrangeles Vice (Iranian Diaspora Pop 1983–1993), fully licensed from Taraneh Enterprises. The album is a groundbreaking exposé of the vibrant subcultural hub of Tehrangeles (portmanteau of Tehran + Los Angeles), and the action–packed, true story of the Iranian diaspora music industry. Featuring 12 tracks remastered by award–winning Osiris Studio, lyrics and translations to all featured songs, original cassette covers, a 20+ page album note booklet by Dr. Farzaneh Hemmasi and more!

"Sprawling from Westwood to Glendale across the San Fernando Valley, this scene was cultivated by the same producers and artists who industrialized the “golden age” of entertainment in pre–revolution Iran and fled from the 1979 Islamic Revolution along with millions of Iranian citizens. Through music and visual media, Iranian producers and artists working out of Tehrangeles have engaged in what the Iranian government calls a “cultural attack” against the Islamic Republic for over 40 years. At the source of this conflict is an unlikely yet highly accountable culprit: cassette tapes.

Cost–effective and easy to duplicate, cassette tapes have proven to be a mighty medium capable of toppling industry via piracy and fomenting ideology through diffusion. It is a historical reality that the Islamic Revolution was fueled by cassette tapes containing speeches of Ayatollah Khomeini that were recorded in exile from France and then distributed by his followers within Iran. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, cassette tapes (and eventually CDs) became a means for Tehrangeles producers and artists to realize a successive alternate of Iranian identity that maintained pre–revolutionary values while catering to the visceral appetites of Iranian diasporans around the world and in the home nation, where Tehrangeles music was both banned by the government yet embraced by the public. Tehrangeles music was inspired by the combination of critically acclaimed, pre–revolutionary pop with the raw traditions of the “motreb,” professional entertainers hired for private festivities. Historically associated with decadent behavior including substance use, vulgar humor and bodily pleasures, “motrebi” music was viewed as a low art form despite its function as a window into the realities of Iranian urban life. Since the revolution of 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran banned “degenerate” Tehrangeles music because it encouraged “vice” and made clear that unrepentant artists were not welcome in Iran. Nevertheless, Tehrangeles music and media made their way into the Islamic Republic via re–taped VHS and cassette tapes, and nowadays it is an open secret within the Islamic Republic: still prohibited on paper but essentially decriminalized. Meanwhile, life eventually imitated art in the insulated market of Tehrangeles; with their performance opportunities mostly limited to weddings, private parties (“mehmuni”), bar/bat mitzvahs and similar social gatherings, at some point in their career nearly every Tehrangeles artist was expected to produce motrebi music to get hired for these events. Fed by condemnation from the Islamic Republic of Iran, and emboldened by Tehrangeles producers and artists, the negative “los ānjelesi” stereotype became a cultural phenomenon that grew to have an established presence in mainstream American entertainment by the 2010s through film and television shows like Clueless, Shahs of Sunset, Family Guy and other fleeting features.

The phrase “Persian cassette” has thus become a loaded term over decades of cultural “soft war,” and the majority of Tehrangeles music has been physically disposed of by all sides. Diasporic nostalgia for the pre–revolutionary “golden age” of Iran and its legendary artistic innovators, alongside a love–hate relationship with the motrebi tradition, further undermined the relevance of Tehrangeles music and, despite being produced by the same pre–revolutionary pioneers, stopped post–revolutionary Tehrangeles pop music from being endorsed as a high art form. Consequentially, many recordings of great artistic integrity from this era have been overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of motrebi music made to satisfy commercial demand. This compilation contends that Tehrangeles’ legacy is worth preserving, celebrating, sharing, and reconsidering in a new fashion as we listen to it decades later. By remastering and pressing these selected songs onto vinyl, most of them for the first time, we give longevity to Tehrangeles’ music legacy by highlighting its innovations and contributions to the scope of Iranian popular music and realize a new mise–en–scène to better understand the artistic achievements of this community. On these tracks you’ll hear the true ingenuity of Tehrangeles’ cultural producers and artists of pre–revolutionary fame as they incorporate electro synthesizers, post–disco fever, reggae rhythms, heavy metal guitar solos, Latin fusion, electronic beats and other contemporaneous sounds of the ‘80s and ‘90s with Persian nuances that can be traced back beyond a thousand years. These tracks also hold social perspectives that still resonate today in response to feelings that transcend the Iranian diaspora: estrangement and loss, hope and desire, joy and sorrow. The album title Tehrangeles Vice underscores the illicit nature and daring circumstances from which Tehrangeles pop music was born and compares its legacy within Persian media to one of the most significant crime–drama TV shows of all time. In the same manner that Miami Vice and its aesthetics had a dynamic impact on sonic, visual and cultural trends in the United States and around the world, Tehrangeles media was a shock to the systems of Islamic Republic ideology and Iranian expatriate communities. Furthermore, these songs are the deep cuts that prove Tehrangeles was not a regressive community of unsophisticated entertainers providing cheap thrills for assimilated, homesick diasporans, but rather a trailblazing collective of courageous thinkers and patriots dedicated to their craft and to love of their homeland. Listening to these songs in hindsight, the contribution of Tehrangeles can be better understood as a triumphant effort to preserve Iranian identity by realizing it in conjunction with prevailing music genres of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and to rebel against the oppressive regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran through the most seductive of means: dance music. Ultimately, this compilation is a supplemental soundtrack to the “counter–revolution” that millions of Iranians, and others in solidarity, have demanded and given their lives for over four decades. As the Farsi expression goes, “may their souls be happy”.

What is further fascinating is that most music of the Tehrangeles scene was recorded between a handful of American–owned studios, and with many American–born session musicians and sound engineers who worked with some of the mainstream artists that molded American commercial tastes over decades. Just to name a couple: session musicians featured on these songs include Walfredo Reyes Jr. of Santana, Phish, Steve Winwood and Chicago fame; one of the most prominent names in sound engineering, Bernie Grundman, originally mastered the featured song Black Cats – “Rhythm of Love.” This demonstrates not only the fortune of Tehrangeles being physically adjacent to Hollywood’s music industry, but also the standard of quality to which Tehrangeles producers and artists held their work. Buried underneath the thousands of whimsical recordings produced for extravagant parties and casual pleasure, there is a wealth of intrinsic value that Tehrangeles Vice brings to light, born from the accidental moment of when the “greatest of the greats” in Iranian popular music found themselves in exile, and collaborated with behind–the–scenes players that also vectored the mainstream music industry, to foster a social revolution by producing cassette tapes and distributing them to their most passionate followers."

Ah, interesting. Yep, Los Angeles has a huge Iranian population. Northern Virginia (especially McLean) near DC has a sizable one, but not that big as out west.

Thanks for posting that Ned, looking forward to checking it out...

LA Times follow up on Tehrangeles scene and that compilation -

Discotchari’s new compilation “Tehrangeles Vice” resurrects forgotten 1980s Persian pop songs made in L.A. by Iranian immigrants after the Islamic Revolution.
These exile-era tracks were smuggled into post-revolution Iran on cassette tapes and satellite broadcasts, becoming underground anthems during war and theocratic crackdown.
As the U.S. faces rising right-wing religious influence in government, these forgotten songs carry lessons for artists fighting cultural suppression through creative expression.

... “We wanted kids to enjoy the link between our culture and western culture,” Ahi said. “But we were also trying to bring what was happening in Iran to people’s attention with our music, which was one reason I could never go back there. Kids who had come from Iran loved Prince and Michael Jackson and were becoming super American, so we had to do something to keep them engaged in our music as well.”...As contemporary Angelenos rallying for this era of Iranian music, Asdourian and Gyulbudaghyan of Discotchari will stop at nothing to ship murkily-sourced tapes from Iran, western Asia and the Caucasus for their label. “In January, we went to Armenia and met a guy who knew a guy at a restaurant in Yerevan who had someone drive tapes in from Tabriz in Iran,” Asdourian said. “They sent us GPS coordinates to pick them up, and we ended up in this abandoned former Soviet manufacturing district getting chased by a guard dog. But he had 30 cassettes, all still sealed in their boxes.”

Yet some of the acts on “Tehrangeles Vice” are still active, living and working in California. After a long hiatus, Roshan recently released new music inspired by Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom Movement, and Ahi is a sound engineer and mixer for film (he worked on “The Last of the Mohicans,” which won an Oscar for sound mixing). He recently contributed to a remix of Ed Sheeran’s “Azizam,” which sprinkles Farsi phrasing into upbeat pop and became a global hit. “Ed reached out and asked me to write some melodies that matched Googoosh’s singing to make it more international, we put our minds together and I’m so proud of it,” Ahi said.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-10-27/tehrangeles-vice-record-label-discotchari?sfmc_id=6532a10525b3640666b4a190&utm_id=42298602&skey_id=383584d63c3fff874cfd8284c2993ae2b27946841a773f46196a2e04b58e6c98&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NLTR-Email-List-Entertainment%20Digest-20251102&utm_term=Newsletter%20-%20Entertainment