On his own words:
It’s difficult to talk about oneself especially when it is easy to be misinterpreted and the misinterpretation can be widely spread through contemporary communication tools. In fact it seems that there is no one who wants to listen to you talking about yourself. We have also learned that the interpretations of the audience about one’s art work are not less valuable as than the intention of the author him/herself.
So, I make it short. I was born in year 1976 in Torbate-Jam and started to study Iranian classical traditional singing with Nassrollah Nasseh- Pour at the age of 12 and this process continued until I was 18. I was able to pursue higher education when I was accepted at Tehran University to study theatre and music. I decided to join the theatre course instead of waiting a year for the music course to begin. At that time I was ready and excited to learn, experiment and move forward. But it was not what I expected because I was disappointed by the teaching system at Tehran University. I had decided to study music instead because of my love for music. In the end I had to stop studying music because of my love for music.
Just like every musician, my dream was to find a place in the professional field of music. Finally and after years of catastrophe, it’s only been for a few years that music has become my ONLY profession. My works (over 100 pieces) are the result of nearly 18 years of engagement with music. The source of this music and poems is the immense Iranian culture and history. These pieces of music and lyrics refer to, and find their meanings from Iranian culture which consists of four hundred years of battle between modernity and tradition.
Whenever I’ve wanted to laugh at the contradictions in my society I use the laughter and playfulness of the blues scale and its singing style. I blend it with the Iranian scale and singing style. Then whenever I’ve wanted to cry and express my sadness I direct the Iranian singing style towards blues or find refuge in reciting poems. In one of my poems written in 2003 I say:
**Haft savare karand bar labe arvand, har yek bashad Nedaye az manaye man
har yek bashad sedayee az nanay man, sonnato tajdeed rahekhish nemoodand
oh, marde jan be lab reseede ra che namand…
As I said at the beginning talking about oneself is a difficult task, So I’m not sure at all if I’ve told you what I should.
**Seven horse riders, my mum, Tradition and modernism showed their ways
Mohsen Namjoo
