Other

I never waited for inspiration

To be honest, it's a mystery to me why my music is listened to more by a non-Iranian audience. I am not sure why that is the case. I've never specifically targeted one audience over another. Maybe it's because I sing in English, or maybe it's because the type of music I play does not sound like "typical" Iranian music... I've always been on the periphery of the Iranian community. I had always thought that the Iranian community both in Canada and in other countries listened to "typical" Iranian music. I didn't think an Iranian "underground" music scene really existed. It wasn't until I met the drummer of Kiosk, Shahrouz Molaei, that I began learning about the underground music scene in Iran>>>

سوتین مشکی آنت

گفتم بگو چرا مرا دوست داری ؟ گفت چون سکس ات خوب است و خوب عشق بازی می کنی . گفتم دیگه ... گفت چون وقتی سکس می کنی با بدنم مهربان هستی همیشه بوی سیب قرمز می دی . کتری را روی اجاق گذاشتم در آشپزخانه را که به بیرون بود را باز کردم . گفت دوستت دارم چون همیشه از طرز لباس پوشیدنم تعریف می کنی . گفتم خوب چون لباس هاست همیشه با روژت ست است . گفت دوستت دارم چون همیشه از عطر تنم تعریف می کنی. گفتم چون هیچ وقت نشده بوی عرق بدی . >>>

عمو سیروس

عمو سیروس همکلاسی دایی ها بود ولی درسش که تموم شده بود با یکی از همکلاسی هاش عروسی کرده بود و رفته بود شمال یک باغچه خریده بود تو یک مدرسه درس می داد سبزی می کاشت و مرغ و خروس و بوقلمون نگه می داشت
بابا می گفت چه آدم لطیفی
دایی جون بزرگه می گفت عجب خری
دایی جون کوچیکه هیچی نمی گفت
>>>

Ey Sareban

Music video>>>

Sean Penn's Last Frontier

The very first film I ever saw with Hollywood's angry man Sean Penn goes back to some 20 years ago in unusual circumstances. I had to reluctantly do my military service in France and during a three day long selection process during which I had to pass several I.Q. and medical exams to judge if I was apt for a year long stay in Army barracks and for all sorts of maneuvers in the cold snow covered hills of Eastern France. Now some 20 years later I get to meet the real guy at the screening of a film Into the Wild in which he did not act but directed >>>

The quiet side of Pop

I discovered Barzin a few months ago when I was browsing the Internet. Barzin was supposed to open for Kiosk in Toronto and yet, I had never heard of him. I quickly Googled his name and found his web site. Lucky me, I found a few full-length mp3 files from his music there to listern to. I think the first few notes did it for me. I was rather surprised at the fact that an Iranian act would create music in the same style as bands such as Wilco, Mazzy Star, or even Radiohead. The next thing that surprised me was his smooth Canadian/American/English accent, to the point that I first had doubts about him being Iranian>>>

Palestine does exist

It is not just the US politicians who are complicit with the State of Israel’s violence against the Palestinians. Sadly, those of us who read and contribute to Iranian.com and are often so opinionated on every matter and feel so compelled to write about everything that happens in the world, have been complicit with this violence by being silent about the recent Palestinian situation. Unfortunately, I think many of us have tuned Palestine out and frankly the Arab-hating sentiments that have filled our national imaginations do not let us see the pain and hear the voices of Palestinians who are being killed violently by the Israeli tanks or die softly behind the Israeli walls. We refuse to notice as we go on with our comfortable lives, pretending that Palestine does not exist.>>>

Memories

...>>>

Brightest star

I mourn his loss. There are some people who believe an actor's death should not be front-page news when there are soldiers and civilians who are dying in faraway lands for greater causes. I don't know a single soldier or a single dead civilian. I do know a lot about war. I've read about it. I've written twenty page papers on the roots and causes of international conflict, the reasons for genocide and ethnic violence, the clash of civilizations. Reading and writing about something isn't as real as mourning the loss of something you know>>>

Effortless energy

The truth is I was a bit nervous at first. After all, it is not often that I have the chance to meet a total stranger whose voice has become a part of my every day routine. Odd as it may seem, this one dimensional nature of fame is an inevitable reality for all successful artists including the one I was about to interview. Adapting to increased recognition and celebrity is an adjustment that Arash Sobhani will most likely have to make in the upcoming years because both he and his band Kiosk have gained significant popularity and recognition recently across the US, Europe and Iran and show no signs of slowing down>>>

Thirty Birds

This poem was revealed to me. Let us not argue from whence, whether from the sub- or super-consciousness, and simply accept that, as with the Leila poem, I had no conscious choice or will in its making, only in the editing. It revealed itself with Attar's journey as the central metaphor, but it also revealed the presence of Ahriman/Angra Manyu, Ahura Mazda's opponent. I envisioned him somehow very strongly as Khomeini engaged in a battle with the "songgirl", Forough, for the soul of Iran and the world>>>

در انتظار ِظهور

ملاک کامیابی و موفقیت یک قوم کوچ یافته را نباید بر تعداد پزشکانش یا توانایی مالی اش بنا نهاد، کامیابی قومی کوچ یافته را باید از رشد و استقلال ذهنیش دانست. رشد ذهنی همان میانه روی است در زیستن و اندیشیدن میان دو فرهنگ، دو طرز فکر. رشد فکری زاده هوش است و هوش قدرت همگونی است با محیط، یعنی ایجاد توازن. امرسون نیز می آورد: "هوش یعنی باور داشتن در خود، باور داشتن در حقیقت خود، باور داشتن در درست بودن هر آنچه در ژرفای قلبمان شایسته خود می دانیم." >>>