Ajam Media Collective
Music
Music and Race Politics in the Iranian Persian Gulf: Shanbehzadeh and “Bandari”
A guest post by Kamyar Jarahzadeh, a student at UC Berkeley focusing on migration and forced migration in Turkey and the Middle East. Read his earlier post on Iranian pop music. Persian art music is a major part of the Iranian musical tradition, but, often times, it seems to be the only musical tradition in the … Continue reading
How Good Is Arash's Persian? The Politics of Language & Identity in Diaspora Iranian Pop Music
A guest post by Kamyar Jarahzadeh, a student at UC Berkeley focusing on migration and forced migration in Turkey and the Middle East. Like the modern music of most cultures, a survey of the modern Iranian pop scene would produce a pretty standard variety of artists and genres. The Iranian music video (“Clip”) shows that broadcast … Continue reading
From Tehran to Homs: Musical Solidarity & Revolutionary Culture in a Time of Siege
The Syrian Revolution is approaching it’s first anniversary and the situation is looking bloodier by the day. In a not entirely unexpected move, Iran recently sent two ships through the Suez Canal to dock in Tartus for a short time, achieving very little but reminding the world (and Israel) that they intend to stand with … Continue reading
Central Asian Pop Music and the Eternal Question: "You’re not going to get married?!”
Tajikistan may be an integral part of the Persian-speaking community, but very often it seems as if culture and information tend to flow from Iran (or the Iranian diaspora) into Tajikistan, with very little coming back the other way. This goes for everything from relief aid during the 1990’s civil war to trashy LA Iranian … Continue reading
Iranian Women Rapping and Kicking Ass
A few months ago TM Bax released its newest music video, “Tehran Mal-e Mast.” The video itself is a great look at Tehran and explores these guys’ relationship with the city (and its many fresh fruit juice stands), but one glaring absence shows up: there are almost no women featured in the video! This is … Continue reading
The Persian Pop Scene in Tel Aviv
Persian Israeli Singers: Part I of a series on Iranian Jews and Diaspora Many American Zionists who vilify Iran as the incarnation of anti-Semitism may be surprised to learn that Iran contains the largest population of Jews in the entire Middle East outside of Israel (only Turkey comes close). In fact, the very concept of … Continue reading
An Evening with Mohsen Namjoo at MIT
On Saturday, November 19, Iranian musician Mohsen Namjoo (dubbed “the Bob Dylan of Iran” by the New York Times) played to a packed house at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium. Known for his biting, satirical lyrics and his musical adaptations of poetry from Rumi, Hafez, and ‘Attar, Namjoo’s sound can best be described as eclectic: his songs … Continue reading
Arash, Melody, & Transnational Youth Identity
Transnational Iranian youth identity today has rather tenuous bonds, a fact lamented by elders who point to language, religion, or various other arbitrary markers of communitarian affiliation to re-affirm their fears of cultural decay. Despite this, a few notable bonds remain. Re-appropriation of Zoroastrian symbols for questionable nationalistic and ethnic aims is one of these … Continue reading
