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Questions for
Kiosk 10/20/2005 6:20
PM I won't start with the
obvious ones, like who the band is made of -- but if you feel like answering
that... J First one - Was I
right to put Paolo
Conte and Leonard Cohen in the "related communities" group? Was
the song "Taraneh" inspired from the work of Paolo Conte? Or better, do you
even know Paolo Conte? J I know he's not that well-known in Iran or the
US. |
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Answers for
Kiosk! 10/20/2005 10:47
PM Actually, I don't know
Paolo Conte and I have never heard of him before but he must be good, because
all other related communities here are exactly what I grew up listening to! Mark Knopfler has
always been inspiring, I adore Dylan's lyrics (I think it's pure literature)
and Leonard Cohen has a wonderful style in music too. Babak Khiavchi has played
guitar on two of the tracks but that is not all, if it were not for him this
album wouldn't have been out. Besides being one of the best Iranian guitar
players, he is a real good friend and he did the job all by himself! He made
an album out of some demo tracks! A real producerƒ Sepanta Nouri has
played Drums, Bass and Guitar on two of the album tracks and the rest of the
band is made of Bahador, Amirali and the legendary drummer Eyni, who is an
old school pro. He has worked with almost everybody who is anybody in Iran's
music scene from the 1970's until now and I must say that Zartosht Soltani has done a great job in the
design of the album cover. |
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10/21/2005 5:54 AM Thanks for the
detailed response Arash. Out of curiosity,
could you be more specific as to who has played guitar on what tracks? You
play guitar too, correct? Which tracks did you play on, and who does all the
riffs? More, the song
"Ghanoone Kham Shodeh Blues" has been influenced by Jimi Hendrix
(and/or Lenny Kravitz), right? |
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10/21/2005 8:57 AM Babak has played the
guitar on "Ghanoon e Kham shode Blues" and "Sobh Shod", Sep has played second
electric guitar on these two songs and drums and bass as well. The touching
lead guitar in "Ghanoon e Kham Shode" has been done by Babak. I did the rest
of the guitar works in all other tracks. Yeah, I hear a Jimi
Hendrix influence in there, after all Babak lives in Seattle. That's Jimi's
hometown and I know Babak visits Jimi's tomb pretty often, he must have given
him a private lesson!! But I also hear some influence by the great Stevie Ray
Vaughan in there. By the way I noticed
in the community we have Hossein Setareh! He is a dear friend of mine, he
runs this site: www.idtune.co.uk
dedicated to Persian alternative music, you should check it out. |
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10/21/2005 9:16 AM Thanks for the URL, I
had seen the web site before, it's a very interesting one. Welcome Hossein! From what I gather
from your answers, the band is pretty spread out here and there. So if you
guys wanted to go on a tour it would be pretty difficult, right? About Babak, after
having looked at the photos on his profile page here, I'm sure hanging out
with Al Di Meola didn't hurt his guitar-playing either... J So tell me Arash, who
has written the lyrics for all the songs? |
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10/22/2005 11:19 AM I am responsible for
the lyrics and the songs!! It's all TAGHSIR E MAN!! Did you check out our
music video? It's here on Bamahang website: Please tell me what
you think! Yes, we are pretty
much scattered all over the world. We are thinking about doing a concert but
we might have to make some changes in the original line-up since some of us
are in Iran now getting visa andƒ We tried to start from
Toronto but due to BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS the concert had to be postponed. We
just might start from California! |
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10/22/2005 2:17 PM I did watch the
Roozmaregi video and found it very "bahal" like everything else you
guys do. It did remind me of the "Close To Me" video by The Cure,
although I doubt that it was directly inspired by that (or was it?) Which brings me to my
next question: I have detected references to other songs in your music, like: "Ageh jaddeha barikan Koocheha tarikan" which is a direct
reference to Farhad/Shamloo (was it Jom'eh or Shabaneh?) There are other ones: "Bahare eshghema che zood tamoom shod Nobate fasle khazoon
shod" which I still haven't
been able to pinpoint what song it comes from (help me there?). I take it
these "references" are little appreciative tributes to the music
you grew up listening to. Could you tell me if there are other references, to
which songs, and more, what other songs/musicians have inspired you in your
music? |
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10/22/2005 2:20 PM By the way, you can
watch The Cure's "Close To Me" music video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=6dC1rl1sIaA |
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10/24/2005 12:41 AM All right, this is a
good question. I had to review the whole album!! There is a reference
to Sohrab Sepehri in "Jade Khoshbakhti" ("Agha del e khosh siri
chande?") and in "Ghanoon e
Kham Shode" ("dararo room ghofl kardan....") I think I stole that from Pink Floyd:
"lock the door and throw away the key..." In "Ey Dad az Eshgh"
it is Shamloo," Ay Eshgh Ay eshgh chehre Abiat peyda nist " and his beautiful translation of Lorca's
"Darigha eshgh ke shod o baz nayamad.." In "Sobh Shod" I was
must have been under the influence of this cool song by the British band
Status Quo and a song that starts like this "I wake up every morning
that's my first mistake..." And we all know who my
influence was when I say "Tavahom e toteh va doshmanay e khiali"!! In "Adame Mamooli" I
had to steal from U2, this is from one of their rare songs that they stole
from someone else..." I never did see that movie I never did read
that book, love come around...." And finally I made a
lot of references to my previous songs like when I say " Shab to
zolfet asire..." this was
from a real love song that I wrote for a certain someone who obviously did
not like it!! I also used a lot of
actual phrases I heard like" khastam biam pishet khiaboona sholoogh
bood"ƒ |
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10/24/2005 12:42 AM By the way, I checked
the music video from the Cure. It was awesome, I also downloaded some of
Paolo Conte songs. He was great too, my favorite was "Boogie"! |
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10/24/2005 8:56 AM Shame on me for not
having detected Sepehri in "Agha dele khosh begoo siri chande"... That's one of the best lines... And by the way, the
song from U2 you're referring to is Playboy Mansion from the album "Pop".
It's funny that you
should have downloaded Paolo Conte songs. I've uploaded his most famous one
for you here. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the song
that resembles most to "Taraneh" since I don't have my Paolo Conte
album with me here. I also uploaded a song by Garcia & Grisman on the
same page, which I'm sure at least you and Babak will enjoy in case you don't
already know it. Interesting fact about
Conte is that he used to be a lawyer who gave up everything to sing. Now as
I've snooped around on you all's profiles, I know that you for instance are
an architect! Are you trying to pull-up a Paolo Conte, or you only do music
(or architecture) on the side?? One more about
references before I get to the video: I could think of who "Tavahome
tote'eh va doshmanaye khiali"
could be about (me?? J), but I couldn't think of someone who could have said or written
that. Now if you can't be more specific than that, I can understand... About the video:
Could you let me know more? Like, where and when it was shot, who the people
in it are, whose idea it was, and stuff like that? I loved the idea of
putting in a corpse there, btw... That's what made me crack-up, along with
the kids and their ice cream, and perhaps also the guy who has two girls with
himƒ J |
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10/24/2005 6:12 PM Unfortunately, I can't
be more specific about some of the people I am referring to. When I talk about
"Tavahom e toteeh", or "Yatim khoone dast e bach e baza"
ya "Siasatesh sokoote"
or "Migan nabeghas vali esmesh yadesh nist" or, ... They all are
alive and very powerful!!! The video was
obviously shot in Tehran. The original idea was to take place in an elevator
instead of a taxi, but we did not have the proper equipment. Me and two of my
close friends who have a studio, and are into short films and TV advertising,
came up with the idea while we were having chelo kabab! On a weekend, we
invited some of our friends and told them to improvise!!! The two guys I
mentioned (the director and editor) appear in the clip too, but the band
members are not in the clip, except for me. |
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10/25/2005 6:56 AM That's very
interesting! Proves that great things can be done out of simple ideas. What about the part
about architecture and music? Are you an architect
who does music on the side, or are you a musician who does architecture on
the side? Will you ever leave
one for the benefit of the other if it ever came to that? |
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10/25/2005 1:31 PM I studied architecture
but I have no formal education in music. Architecture is what I make my
living out of and I like architecture very much. I have never been
forced to choose between the two although there have been times that one gets
in the way of the other. But I rather not think about choosing between the
two, I think any form of profession that gives you the chance to express
yourself more clearly and gives you more space for creating is preferable. However, if you ask me
what will I encourage my child to go after, it will definitely be music. I
think music is the one thing that God forgot to take away from man when he
kicked us out of his heaven! |
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10/25/2005 5:21 PM That's very
interesting. What would you do if your kid wanted to study computer? J Tell me the truth now... Arash jan, you still
haven't talked about how this album came to be. Like how long ago were these
songs written, or how long did it take to write them? Basically, where does
this album come from, but also more importantly, where do you want it to go? Also, I think you
didn't delve more into your musical influences besides Dylan and Knopfler.
Like what's playing on your gramophone right now? J |
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10/27/2005 5:35 PM This album started
around 4 years ago and it's all about a period of time when we were all
experiencing a hard time, our society was (is) losing its' values and hopes
and we were all concerned, but there was no way to express our feelings, we
were (are) second hand citizens! That was the general
feeling we all had and when we started recording. We knew that this album -if
ever finished- is not going to be published in Iran because of the previous
experiences we had with the censorship policies in Iran. So we looked at it as
a jam session that was being recorded and it gave a pure feeling to the
sound. We didn't feel that we are under pressure, that we have to meet a
certain deadline or... We just enjoyed playing, recording and listening to
the songs and eventually lots of other talented people joined in and
contributed. The artwork of the album cover has the same mood and the video
clip too. Music-wise, it started under influence of Dylan and then it got
more electric and eventually it started to sound a little like Eastern
European gypsy music. |
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10/27/2005 5:48 PM And where do we want
KIOSK to goƒ We are still searching
and experimenting. We are planning to come up with a fresh sound. We want to
establish our own trade mark sound eventually and the next album will
hopefully move in that direction. About my influences in
Rock and Blues, Clapton IS
God and I really admire his work. I like Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
Leonard Cohen, old U2, Sting, The Police and Chris Rea, but I also listen to
a lot of Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt and other great instrumentalists. Jim
Hall and John Scofield are what I lately spend time listening to and right
now I am listening to Paolo Conte's Boogie, thanks to you!! I don't think I need
to say that Mark Knopfler is on top of my list! I really like gypsy
music very much and I listen to some "No Smoking" (Emir Kusturica
and the Non Smoking Orchestra) songs almost every day, they are Emir
Kusturica's band, I love his movies... About a child deciding
to study computer, well I guess she is free to choose I just hope she knows
what she wants to do with it! |
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10/28/2005 8:55 AM Those are pretty
interesting roots for your music. I almost added Eric Clapton to the related
communities list in the beginning, but the sense of humor in your songs and
the resemblance of your voice to Leonard Cohen made me opt for other choices.
Also, keep in mind
that I'd hate to get you in trouble by asking more about the lyrics of your
songs, that's why I won't get more into that. But feel free to add to the
topic as much as you deem necessary! This brings me to what
I personally really want to know -- and please don't be diplomatic in your
reply, because it will make it all the more interesting for me and for
whoever will read this conversation: Which song is your
favorite song off the album? If you rank them in a certain order, please give
me the songs rated by the order of your liking. I have my own
favorites, which I rank by music, by lyrics, or by a combination of both. If
you feel this will make it easier for you to rank them, then go by that
scheme. I know it will be hard, but give it a try. Remember, pour your
heart out now! J |
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10/28/2005 8:47 AM I think "Zorbaye
Malayeri" is my favorite now! It is also the last song that was written
and recorded in the album so it is closer to my taste of music at this time. I like the guitar work
in "Ghanoone Kham Shode Blues", but my second most favorite would be "Jadeh
Khoshbakhti", after that I think it's "Dad Az Eshgh" which was the first
track of the album that was recorded and is very close to the laid back mood
I was looking for throughout the album. I think "Sobh Shod"
has sharp lyrics and "Taraneh" has a nice chord progression. The rest are the
same to me. |
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10/28/2005 9:27 AM It's funny, I wouldn't
have guessed that those would be your favorites! I wonder what Babak and Reza
(and the members of the band)'s choices would be. Regarding the word
"Malayeri" - why Malayeri?? I know you've been asked that before,
but there should be another reason besides "having regards for
Malayer"! J Speaking about Emir
Kusturica and gypsy music, I should probably let you know that one of the
related communities to this one during the first few days of its existence
was the Tom Waits community. However, I changed that one for various reasons
as you can notice. Now what's the relation between Tom Waits and Kusturica,
you may ask? I've read elsewhere
that people have said Kiosk's music is a take-off of Greek/Eastern folk
music. My answer to that would probably be that all music takes root in other
types of music, especially in folk! Just listen to
Tom Waits if you don't believe it! Am I right, or am I
right? Anyway, I've created a
special page for you to listen or download music files from, and besides the
files from Jerry Garcia and Paolo Conte, I've added songs from Tom Waits (of
whom I'm a major fan). You'll notice that on "I'll Be Gone", the
same type of gypsy music feel from Kusturica is present. May that serve as an
example to the critiques! The other files are
there because... well, I couldn't keep myself from uploading them and having
you give them a listen now that you're so open-minded about music! The live
version of "Telephone Call From Istanbul" is absolutely hilarious
music-wise, btw. Let me know what you
think. |
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10/29/2005 1:54 AM First, I must say I am
a Tom Waits fan and one of my all time favorites is "Invitation To The
Blues". And I agree with you
about his roots and folk music and everything ! Malayer is a place we
referred to when we made a comment for no particular reason, like every true
word had to be either from Quran or Hafiz or Pink Floyd... One of our friends
was Lor (we all have shahrestani backgrounds) and Malayer was the referring
point of every dialogue among us... We made 2 names for each song and
"Zorbaye Malayeri" was the only second title that made it to the list. |
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10/29/2005 6:09 AM Somehow I knew there
would be some Tom Waits in you! Incidentally, the song
you're citing is off the "Small Change" album, which as I'm sure
you know, also contains "Tom Traubert's Blues" (a.k.a.
"Waltzing Matilda"), picked up by many such as Rod Stewart. The
song is almost a hymn in a few English-speaking countries, especially
Australia from I hear. This one makes me
think of something I've wanted to ask you from the beginning: Who do you
think your audience is comprised of? I've noticed something about that which
I'll tell you later, and it was pretty interesting for me to notice too. |
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10/29/2005 11:37 AM From the feedback that
we have received outside of Iran where the album was officially published,
the audience are mostly between 25-50, they are mostly educated and they
spend time on the Internet. They follow news related to Iran and obviously
are not happy with the whole situation. They are scattered all over the world
and they try to maintain being Iranian through the web and "that"
really seems to be the only way for them to get reliable news about Iran. Inside, it's almost
the same audience but they don't have the same sources. We all are living
without a national T.V or Radio, "inside" Iran or
"outside" Iran we are faced with the same type of corrupt T.V
stations, radios and newspapers that are not popular and reflect views of
small groups of influential people; but the audience outside has access to
fast and un-filtered Internet. They are obviously more up to date, they will
know when Makhmalbaf makes a new movie, or how Ganji is doing in prison.
However, people inside will have to learn about this kind of events through
"word of mouth". It was predictable
that our audience will have certain characteristics mentioned before, but
what I am really excited about is knowing the reaction of other groups of
society "inside" Iran. Now that the CD is available there, there is
a small obstacle: This album does not have the Ershad approval and has to be
sold "underground", so there wont be any exposure from radio or TV,
and we will never be able to know how many copies are sold or copied. We will
have to see the reactions through word of mouth as well! |
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10/30/2005 2:15 PM O.K Parham now I have
a couple of questions for you: First I would like to
know what your favorite track on our album is, and I would like you to tell
me about the weaknesses of the album and what you expect to hear in the next
one! |
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10/30/2005 3:27 PM First about the
audience: It really sounds like
you guys actually had a market research done! My experience so far has been
that you probably have a mature audience, although I don't have a big sample
size to boast. Basically, all of those in my age level and a bit younger (I'm
42) to whom I have played the album have really liked (and I mean REALLY
liked!) the songs so far. The only exception was a younger dude (and I still
have to experiment with the younger ones), who said he liked the music, but
that he felt the words weren't veryƒ "poetic"! Whatever that means! Anyway,
I'll let you know once I get more feedback from people. But I'll have to say
so far the response has been more than positive. My 62 year-old uncle
also really liked the CD, btw! This is someone who used to go watch Farhad
when he was playing at Koochini way, way back. He found the songs very
"original" and told me he had a few chuckles here and there when he
was listening to the lyrics. Now off to your
questions! |
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10/30/2005 4:05 PM The songs I liked
most: I must say that in the
beginning, "Zorbaye Malayeri" was my favorite. Looking at it again,
it's probably the song that has the best balance of great music/great lyrics
all in all. Like my friend was saying the other day: I can still listen to it
after a hundred times and discover new things in it that I hadn't heard
before. However, the song I
find myself playing most is "Taraneh". In fact, and I'm ashamed to
say this, I always skip "Roozmarregi" in the beginning to get to "Taraneh"
faster! I don't know what to say, it just puts me in SUCH a good mood that I
can't keep myself from rewinding and playing it again. In fact, again the
other day, as soon as I started playing it, my wife came to grab me and we
started dancing on it together so spontaneously that my son began cracking up
at the sight of us taking off on it like that! I think you dismissed
"Taraneh" a bit too early in your comments too. Your singing style "...didi
hamash harf boodo hala harfat tamoom shod..." is actually very innovative and soooo fun. J Anyway, that's the
song I wake up to, the one I shave with, dance with my wife to, take the dog
out with... J Music-wise, I like all
the rest of them, but perhaps with more emphasis on "Jaddeye Khoshbakhti" and
"Ey Dad Az Eshgh". I also agree that the guitar on "Ghanoone Kham Shodeh
Blues" is damn good. My hat's off to Babak for that. Lyrics-wise, again
they're all very good -- even "Taraneh", which is a love song, says things in
its' own special way. My favorites for the lyrics category should be "Sobh
Shod", "Adame Ma'mooli", "Ey Dad Az Eshgh", "Jaddeye Khoshbakhti", and of
course "Zorbaye Malayeri" -- in no special order. And by the way, I
believe "Taghsire Man Bood" is a marvel lyrics-wise. Overall, it's such a
good album that it's very hard to decide. The songs are ALL very good, and
it's rare that an album would be all good. In my opinion, that was the case
for "The Bends" by Radiohead in the nineties, "Parachute"
by Coldplay so far since 2000, or for other rare examples. What I mean is I
consider this album in the same line. So there! |
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10/30/2005 4:12 PM Okay, off to
strengths/weaknesses now... |
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10/30/2005 5:05 PM I'll start-off with
the weaknesses since you asked me: First, I should say I
don't agree with a criticism I read somewhere that the album sounds too much
like Dire Straits. We haven't had anything like this in Farsi, and Dire
Straits don't exactly sing about the same things either. More, personally
Dire Straits songs tend to be downers for me, albeit very nice downers, but
Kiosk songs lift me up for the most part. The stuff I found are: - Sometimes you tend
to take a bit too long to get to the bridge, perhaps in order to put-in a few
more good lines in there. That can be noticed on a few tracks, one of which
being Roozmaregi. - On Roozmaregi (and
perhaps a few other tracks), the chords seem to be monotonous, as they don't
change very often. But then I thought about that and came to the conclusion
that this is perhaps the idea, since the song talks about monotony, right? - The Chorus: That's
one of the biggest problems with ALL Iranian music, whether it's rock,
traditional, classical, whatever. I see that it happened here again: We still
don't know what good background vocals are (farhangesho nadarim agha J). This is something that perhaps should be
worked on for the next album. The pitch, the tonality and sometimes the
choice of the voice are wrong and it can be heard, even on Kiosk. - One gets the sense
that you are a very good guitar player but that you don't let go enough.
Perhaps I'm wrong and playing conservatively (in a way) or not experimenting
enough gives the album its' charm, but then I could be wrong too. In all,
your guitar may still be a bit shy. - Some of the songs
(like "Sobh Shod") could have benefited from being more up-tempo. The way
they're left on the album, one gets the feeling that there's something
lacking, that something should come and fill in -- and it's not just another
instrument. The rest is small
things that probably have to do with my musical taste: Like I don't like the
sound of the keyboard, I would have chosen another sound. The riffs don't
vary much here and there, etc. |
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10/30/2005 5:14 PM And the strengths...
(let me know if by now you feel like giving me an upper-cut in the chin) Well, apart from all
I've said during the length of our conversation, which I won't write about
again, I feel at this point that I should give special mention to your
"tikkeh-parooni"... "Hala bebinam
mizarin ya na?" (Adame
Ma'mooli) "Agha dele
khosh begoo siri chande?"
(Jaddeye Khoshbakhti) "Kheyli ba'as
bebakhshin" (Taghsire man
bood) "....injoori
khareji misheh..." and so on... Honestly, I haven't
had so much fun listening to music in a long time... Zendeh bashi! |
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10/30/2005 5:36 PM Your last question: I'm not sure what you
mean by "what I'd like to hear on the next album". I'm not familiar with
your repertoire as you may still have quite a few good songs in your sleeve.
For the time being I'm still in the "haal" of this one and I don't
think much about the next one as you may. Off the top of my
head, I would say you should experiment more with gypsy music and gypsy-type
arrangements (like Laleh's "Storebror" or
even Tom
Waits's "I'll Be Gone", though not to that extent), with an
addition of bohemian instruments like the accordion. Somehow I do see you
having fun --and thereby producing more outstanding music-- going that way. What do you think? |
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11/1/2005 8:33 AM I agree with you, I
have been listening to a lot of gypsy jazz lately and I like the raw sound of
gypsy music. Also, we will try to add to the Iranian flavor of the band. |
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11/1/2005 1:04 PM Arash jan, this will
be one my last questions. How did you come to write "Taghsire Man
Bood"? Where did the idea originate from? |
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11/3/2005 9:31 AM The idea of
"Taghsire Man Bood" came around at a time when very unfortunate events
were happening in Iran (and they haven't stopped since!!!) and in my personal
life I was experiencing the same situation. After a long conversation with a
close person to me, I began to realize that everybody around me thinks I am
to blame and I said to myself that if it's going to make them feel better, I
can take the responsibility and say out loud "taghsir e man bood", and while
I am at it I can do the same with many different issues. We all know whose
fault it is for many of the things that go wrong, if it's that easy for
people in charge to deny their mismanagement, well taking responsibility
could be as easy too! I mean by saying this that I tried to make people think
there are people making mistakes while we are still trusting them when they don't
take responsibility for anything, and they don't even feel obligated to
explain anything to the people! We are not talking
about major political issues here (which is our right to know), but smaller
things like the crash of an airliner in which hundreds die. No one ever comes
out to say anything about the mismanagement, etc. All those in charge remain
at their positions and even get a raise! There are many incidents like that.
Remember the poor soldier who stole a shaving machine ? |
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11/5/2005 4:29 AM That's very
interesting. How about the people you sing about in most of your songs? For
example those whose "inja o oonja" is "masnoo'ee", or those who
without "ring o lastik" won't become real men. Are those people you
know, or are you just speaking generally based on observation of people
you've noticed here and there? Have you had any reactions to those comments? |
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11/6/2005 3:01 AM About the
"plastic women" and the "body builders" and other types:
Well there is more than one in every crowd now, lots of them are friends or
members of the family, or co-workers...You see them everywhere. Some of my
friends have mentioned that I have made funny remarks on almost everyone and
that is not good, but I did not do it intentionally, it just came out and I
don't think anybody should take it personally. It's who we are after all! |