More Folk & Pop Sounds from Pre-Revolutionary Iran - Various Artists

Okay, here's another 5 of those lovely Persian 7" singles. This is heavy, saturnine music from an area of land that is home to some of the world's oldest civilizations. And a couple of jaunty dance numbers thrown in for good measure. What I find particularly interesting about these old records is the way these songs blend sounds and instuments from traditional Middle Eastern music, from the music of the Balkans and from Western pop styles. Apart from that, I don't know much (anything) about these songs, who performed them or when they were recorded, however I have found a couple of websites that hold information aboout the Iranian music scene of the '60s and '70s:

http://jessekaminsky.com/intercontinental/covers/

http://www.persiandiscography.com/

http://radiodiffusion.wordpress.com/

While you're browsing those sites you can always get today's 10 Persian songs HERE.
As always, any info or translations would be greatly appreciated.

Mahasti - Del o Del (Folk & pop sounds from pre-revolutionary Iran)

Mahasti, the Lady of Hearts and Flowers, was a popular singer in pre-revoltionary Iran, and this crackly album sounds like a relic from a long forgotten time, despite the fact that it was only released in the mid '70s. Its not just the poor condition of the vinyl that makes these songs sound antiquated, its also some elusive quality to the music itself. It has a weight that seems to be lacking in much Western pop musics. It is heavy, mournful. Those strings are dramatic and Mahasti's beautiful voice is filled with sorrow and weary resignation.

Here's some film of Mahasti singing a song on Iranian TV:


Tracklist:

01 Dige Basse
02 Del Ke Gonahi Nagare
03 Bestare Gham
04 Ashki Baram Namonde
05 Saghi
06 Del o Del
07 Khonetekouni
08 Vay Be Halet
09 Dela Menat Kesh
10 Jodaiye To

Get it HERE.

More Scratchy Old Persian Pop from Pre-Revolutionary Iran

The last batch of Persian pop 45s that I posted here proved very popular, so here's a few more for your listening pleasure. All 3 of these great records feature unknown male vocalists. The first two are kind of urgent and quite hectic, while the last (which has the beautiful label artwork) has a kind of languid, melancholic psychedelic beat sound going on.

As before, I'd really appreciate some help finding out who the artists are because I can't read Farsi. And many thanks to those who took the time to find out about the last lot, all info about them can be found in the comments for that post.

UPDATE (04/03/09):

Many thanks to Iranian blogger, Jadi for the information about these great Persian songs.


These two songs are by Aghasi and side 1 is called Amene:





These two are also by Aghasi and side 1 is called Leily.



Having done a bit of digging, it seems that Aghasi was very popular across Iran and appeared in a number of films. This clip of the man in action is great:



This one is by Artik while the song title is Matrood.



This is the b side of the Artik single and its called Vaghti Del Khosh Nabashe (When you do not feel good in the heart). The label artwork belongs to the Shah's Ministry of Economy and the Empire of Iran's logo is printed at the top...every object has a story to tell, and this record came dancing to the market just like Marx's table.




23/10/2009

Here is a zip file containing all 6 tracks:

Pops Sounds from Pre-Revolutionary Iran Volume 2