If I say Nadir Khayat not many recognize who I’m talking about, but when I say RedOne then the penny falls for many! No he is not Iranian as his name and appearance might coincidently indicate (even though he has the same tendency as our dear undergrounders to have himself and the performing artists vocally introduced in the songs), but rather Moroccan. This young star-producer is THE producer at the moment! Reuters has got an interesting article about him. Those who have read my reviews can understand how I relate to this quote:
“A chorus has to lift. People have to start jumping even more. It’s like a trip, y’know?”
I just love the way he blends the nostalgia of the 60’s/70’s together with the vibrant sound of the 80’s and a current groove. Catchy, clean and cutting! I’ve told you before how much I love Enrique and Ciara’s “Taking Back My Love”, now the man happens to be responsible for my latest favorite namely Flipsyde’s “When it Was Good”. Listen to the song, this is when it gets good!
As a fan of digital art I have been following the career of the young Iran-based artist Soheil Danesh a couple of years now. He is a comic-strip illustrator, game concept designer and story-board artist for animations and films. His latest contribution is to the Disney-style domestic production “Jamshid & Khorshid”. He has a very clever way of presenting the Iranian mythology and folklore to the international community through the so called cutting-edge graphic-novel style and in digital art format.
Soheil (looking cool like a young James Logan aka Wolverine, in the pic displayed above) has in recent years made a name and reputation for himself in the online digital art community. Last year he started a blog to update with new sketches and ideas, just like his fellow digital art artists often do. A move highly appreciated by a blogger/blog-lover like yours-truly! If you find his work interesting just google the man’s name and you’ll be in for a digital treat! http://soheildanesh.blogspot.com/
By now you must have heard the samples on his official website. Sirvan Khosravi releases the follow up to the reported commercial failure, but ironically incredibly popular debut album (which makes the equation add up in illegal downloading!). During these past years Sirvan has created and produced for other domestic artists, making a living according to himself, while his fans have eagerly been waiting for the new direction of his own music. Since he two years ago announced that he would abandon TRANCE for something new. Sirvan has recently said in the press that he hardly listens to Iranian music and that his musical favorites are Elton John and Eros Ramazotti. The new album has been in the making since 2004! There is an incredibly innovative and colorful presentation for the new album on his website, sadly the artwork of the album is far from this piece!
Sirvan’s younger brother Zanyar who goes under the stage-name Xaniar (X is phonetically read Z, like Xanadu) and had a creative role in his brother’s debut is back with an equally creative part in the current album. Xaniar has recently aspired to a solo career and some of his songs and videos have been distributed online without legal permit, mainly via his brothers website.
Benyamin Bahadori’s follow up to the best-selling “85″ is finally released after years of postponing due to him reportedly having felt pressure and wanting to digest the overnight success. The new album is accordingly named after its release year, namely “88″. The album’s track listing is longer than average, but many titles are not full-length tracks but rather demos of songs that might or might not be developed into full-lengths at a later stage. Benyamin realizes that people’s taste has changed in these past three years, but so has his he claims. He acknowledges the competitive market and feels excited to join the crowded industry once again, with another potent album to challenge both legal and illegal productions. Benyamin has plans for domestic and international concerts in 1388.
Finally some random facts about Banyamin according to the interview in “Chelcheragh”: He considers himself an intellectual and a huge fan of LOST the television series, who sees many similarities between the character “Sawyer” and his own personality. Benyamin also claims that Hamid Askari has cleverly imitated his musical style, but taken his vocal style from somewhere else (implying Shadmehr).
Ershaad announced that it will be kicking off a new music festival this year. “Moghaavemat (Resistance)” is the revolutionary title of it, probably to match “Fajr”, and will be an annual event.
After the tragic departure of Parviz Maghsadi just recently, yesterday the Iranian music history experienced another loss. The veteran poet/songwriter Bijan Taraghi passed away at the age of 80, coincidentally on the day that was supposed to be Parviz Maghsadi’s birthday! In his more than half-a-decade long career Taraghi collaborated with many icons of both poetry and music, including pioneers such as Nima Youshij and Parviz Yahaghi! May God rest his creative soul.
Bia2 is celebrating its 6th year of innovation in entertainment with the launch of its brand new RADIO! The BIA2 RADIO takes a revolutionary approach by using FLASH, unlike any Iranian radio out there! No hassle, no need for various media players needing frequent upgrading. Just tune, listen and enjoy! Our ambition is to combine latest HITS and TECHNOLOGY for the best radio experience there can be. Featuring exclusive tracks by artists such as Babak, Erfan, Afra and Khashayar! Just to mention a few of our many surprises for you.
I sure hope you’re enjoying our exclusive DJ shows! Cuz we are about to take it to yet another level!! To the INTERNATIONAL level, as a matter of fact. Bia2 is proud to present FAARSHEED! The internationally renowned DJ/Producer who has taken the global CLUB scene by storm! Yet making sure to keep in touch with the Iranian community on an annual basis. As of next month FAARSHEED will be spinning some of his magic for your insatiable pleasure in his “Faar & Wide” show, exclusively on Bia2! Whatever you do, don’t miss it! Your groove will depend on it!! The show will also be available as a Podcast. That means you can sync your iPod/iPhone to the Podcast and never miss a show again.
Visit the man’s wesbite for a taste of what’s to come!
The image above (displaying a young handsome reviewer) is the very first appearance of Bia2 back in April 2003! By then was the transition from the personal DjSoltan.com to the public Bia2.com a fact. The word of mouth took care of the rest and voila here we are today, six years after!
Time flies when you are having fun, they say and in our case they happen to be one hundred percent right! We have had so much fun that we haven’t stopped the ride to really realize how far we have come! As a website and as people behind it. We have grown, and we keep on growing! Thanks to you and together with you! Its when we look at these six years in front-page review that we can see the leaps of progress! Here are some nostalgic glimpses into our history:
2004
2005
2006
2007
And the truly fun part is that this is only the beginning!! So stay tuned for years and years to come!
If you’re a self-proclaimed chef like yours-truly, with daily aspiration to challenge Gordon Ramsey in cooking (not to mention temper!) then you gotta pay chow.com a visit! You never know what you might end up making by the end of day, after you’be been to their rich database. For someone like me who is living in Europe and tries to follow the so called food plate model their presentation of the trashy American meals and junk food is least-said facinating!
In another attempt to reconciliation (you can search for old posts about the dispute in this blog) Ershaad has paid 150 million Toman to Khaaneye Moosighi. Thereby has the debt to the city of Tehran been paid and Khaaneye Moosighi is finally the owner of its office building.
Shahab Tiam’s follow up to his successful debut “One” is finally out! I’m really pleased to see the cover, not just because I happen to have a similar jacket!lol The composition, the color coordination and the letterings are perfect for a portrait-cover! “Zarabaan” is now available in the Bia2 store. Click here to buy the album.
I have no idea how it has slipped my mind to inform you about Parviz Maghsadi’s (left) departure, considering the fact that he was and will always be one of my absolute favorite composers/producers! I consider him the man who gave 6/8 a touch of class and quality! Even though he is just as famous for his earlier ballads, he was basically the man who brought 6/8 mainstream. He manufactured commercially catchy yet timelessly classy songs. A flavor which I have chosen to call “smooth pop” in my reviews (feel free to type his name in Bia2 search engine for all my references to his songs and covers on them). May his creative soul rest in eternal peace. The following is an audio recording from a session in the studio with a young Dariush!
The professors of the Tehran music college “Honarestane Moosighi” have voiced complaints and concerns in domestic press for not having been paid seven months’ wages, despite ongoing education.
Ershaad has in the past years (as frequently reported in my blog) adopted a new policy when it comes to deal with progressive music. Instead of labeling it a national threat and cracking down on it (something which has backfired repeatedly) the ministry has toned down its harsh tone and surprisingly legalized more and more of the underground singers. Most likely in an attempt to once again gain control over the larger part of the domestic production and distribution, which is more or less lost to the internet as a technology. The longterm strategy is to loosen up the restrictions in order to reduce the attractions of the underground activities. In recent press release the ministry assured that they will commit to the fostering of the young generation of artists by offering a healthy environment for their music and that they will continue making an effort to increase the number of permits to be granted in 1388.
Following the critical lack of location for concerts the management of Rudaki Foundation has in a press release promised the 1000 seat “Talaare Vahdat” exclusively to the music performances in this calendar year. The stage is undergoing a technological upgrade which is supposed to prepare the auditorium for an adequate music experience.
As you guys might remember I’m a huge Modern Talking fan and as such, also considering the popularity of the German duo among Iranians, I’ve always found it strange that there hasn’t been attempts to remake their songs into Persian (although I’ve heard a couple of terrible ones recently!). At the same time Thomas Anders’ amazing voice is nothing to be easily imitated! A while ago I received a song called “Rafti Amma” by a young underground artist called Nima Ghafari, which struck me very Modern Talking-ian in terms of the mellow HI-NRG sound and the vocal tone and ornamentation. The song has even borrowed a segment from Modern Talking’s old rivals, Bad Boys Blue’s song “Heart of Midnight”! What can I say, I’m a sucker for this kind of music! So if you read this and know anymore songs by Nima or in this particular style then please do drop me an email and let me know! Thanks in advance.
The spring is in the air and the long Easter weekend has begun. Coralie Clément’s “C’est La Vie” has been on replay all day, making my day! I think I have a crush on the mademoiselle! I have always had a thing for quirky-cute and fragile-voiced chansonniers with a nouveau bohemian style and off beat appeal. In fact if I ever stop blogging chances are that I’ve run away with one!lol Enjoy the holiday my friends.
My loyal readers might recall the cup depicted in this sketch of mine! I’ve never been a fan of drawing/painting landscapes or “stilleben” (German for still-life). Still life or dead objects, although aesthetically appealing, have never been intriguing enough for me to capture in anything other than photographs. All my artworks bordering on the genres are quasi, meaning that even though seemingly landscapes or stilleben they all have an important element of defiance! A living being placed somewhere in the perspective, breaking focus and granting the environment a sign and sense of life. This oversized tea cup of mine is one of those objects which fascinates me aesthetically, I’m loving the earth tones and the floral Mehndi (henna art) inspired motif. But no matter how hard I’ve tried I haven’t been able to bring myself to do a stilleben out of it. I even composed this photo for an attempt, but to no avail!
In months I’ve been looking for an opportunity, an appropriate setting which could excuse such execution. No luck! But then one early weekend morning, suddenly the perfect scenery was composed by cosmic forces and the vision appeared in front of my eyes! Like the “situated” artist that I happen to be, I had no other choice but to grab my KOH-I-NOOR hardtmuth and immortalize it on tinted paper. So in a way, my way, “My Cup of Tea” is a stilleben! A still-life, my style!
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