Sirvan has in a controversial interview with “Etemaade Melli” criticized the recent undergrounders who’ve gone legal for not being able to even repeat themselves in their legal debuts, let alone to reinvent! The results are beyond critique, Sirvan says, only Mohsen Chavoshi managed to deliver something different. However he has failed in updating to something which suits him better than his established sound, Sirvan claims, since a change just for the sake of the change alone isn’t enough. Chavoshi failed to meet the consumers’ demands, Sirvan explains. We have no longer musicians entering our industry he says, most newcomers just work with computers and the musicians we have available are left from 7-8 years ago. Sirvan says that he is still hopeful about the future of the industry, if he wasn’t he would have given up singing and just attend to producing. He says that after all the experience in the industry these few years he has reached the conclusion that a song has to enjoy at least one of the following two features, if its to make itself heard. One is vulgar or explicit lyrics, the other is an extremely different music. I have tried the second approach in my recent album, he says, people of all kinds are able to compare my music with today’s international music. Sirvan admits that he has been tempted to attend to illegal production during the past years, in the absence of copyright laws and a supporting mass-media. However its not worth to ruin the legal status for a couple of months faster release, he argues. Sirvan explains that his debut was mainly acknowledged by musicians while the general public didn’t really realize what it delivered. It was first after my similar arrangements for other artists that my name was noticed. He also says that many of the artists who initially criticized his music for not being compatible with Iranian musicality and mentality later came to approach him for same kind of arrangements for own songs. Offers which I refused, explains Sirvan, they didn’t believe in me when it meant something to me. The only person who believed in my work was Behrooz Saffarian, whom I today consider as the only arranger of POP music in Iran. Our musicians make the mistake to compare themselves with LA-musicians rather than with international artists. They haven’t even heard anything other than LA-POP and my professional policy is that if a singer’s ambition is to hire me to have his song arranged like a 3rd class LA-production then thats what I will deliver for him, he says to “Hamshahrie Javaan”. But I personally regard the latter when it comes to myself and believe that there is nothing international artists can do that I cant! In regards to having left TRANCE behind in favor of HOUSE Sirvan explains that what is considered TRANCE in Iran is not TRANCE per definition, but rather TECHNO which died a decade ago! Thats why it is doomed to fail if resurrected the way its done by Iranians, he explains. I always produce songs for others in genres apart from my own so that they cant be related to me, Sirvan adds, thats why I have never regretted not singing the songs myself. Finally Sirvan explains the reason why he refused to work with Sadeghi again, despite the huge success of “Vaysaa Donyaa” and the early reports and later unexplained rejection about such collaboration being repeated on Sadeghi’s new album. He wasn’t completely fair and acted ungenerous when in came to giving me my share of the credits for the success of the song (meaning in media and not on the album cover)! It was after all the strongest feature on the album. I never acted on the claim of those who suggested that it was mainly due to my arrangement that this song became huge, while Sadeghi reacted negatively by taking all the credits for himself!I don’t work with such characters, Sirvan concludes.

Note: thanks to Ahmad.

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