Category Archives: Six Pillars to Persia

Six Pillars to Persia. You can subscribe to this podcast channel at this address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/sixpillars

Six Pillars – New Music From Iran VI, Siavash Amini

6pillarsThis and next episode on Six Pillars we commissioned two shows from Tehran-based producer Siavash Amini, aka The Waterfront.

This week Amini looks at new ambient music released from Iran in 2014, Iranian ambient artists included are Siavash, Arash Akbari , Porya Hatami and Tegh.
Next Tuesday we’ll be hearing about IDM/Techno and noise from Amini. Earlier episodes of New Music from Iran, and this time last year in fact, we heard Amini discuss his methods for composition and research online and about the state of his music scene currently in Tehran.

Broadcasts 9-9.30pm Tuesday 16th December repeats Thursday 4pm. Listen online via www.sixpillars.org or www.resonancefm.com

Six Pillars – New Music from Iran VI, Siavash Amini by 6pillars

Six Pillars – Single Motherhood / Towards The Possible Film

Artist Brian Zegeer

This week we hear from our Iranian contingent I Ran Into Iran on the social politics of single motherhood in Iran, and an interview with artist Shezad Dawood at Art Dubai 2014 on the eve of his screening Towards the Possible Film. Plus we go out with a track by Scotland-based jazz explorers GOL from their new album ‘Strange Times‘.

Maryam Abolfazli is an international development and online media professional based in Washington DC, exploring and researching ideas of single motherhood both in Iran and US at 34. For the I Ran Into Iran Episode 7 our duo quiz her on her work and research into single parenting. Abolfazli makes the distinction between single motherhood as a choice option for those in the developed and ‘undeveloped’ world and connects the pressures with everything from fighting a fight with the help of a support and possible drug addiction without.

Towards the Possible Film - Shezad Dawood

Towards the Possible Film – Shezad Dawood

Shezad Dawood’s film screens April 3rd at Parasol Unit Gallery, London as a preview to the solo exhibition of work at Parasol 4 April to 25 May 2014. As part of the new Art Dubai section Film, he staged a Q&A after the screening and stopped by our booth at #Falgoosh Radio to discuss themes touched in his film, such as experimental anthropology, everyday aliens and future tribalisms.

An interesting aspect of Dawood’s creative process for this project is that he publicly critiqued and discussed the film before it was made and so turned the traditional film making format around. Broadcasts across London on 104.4FM or online, Thurs 19:30, Sun 06.30 GMT.

“Six Pillars to Persia” is a focus on Middle Eastern, and wider arts and culture on air and online on arts-music station Resonance104.4FM.

Six Pillars to Persia: Don’t Throw Your Love to Babylon


This week we’ve tickets to give away to From Babylon to London at Jackson’s Lane Theatre, Feb 16th 2014, plus we earmark several ResonanceFM fundraisers events going on around Valentine’s day.

This show includes our monthly guest slot from I Ran Into Iran USA. Artists Katayoun Vaziri and Brian Zegeer conduct the second part of an interview with Dr. Nayereh Tohidi, Professor and former Chair of the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at California State University. We heard the first part of the interview last month, and now Dr. Tohidi speaks on influence of Western and Middle Eastern Feminist movements on the women’s rights movement in Iran from the early-20th Century to the present day. Plus music from the Samani Brothers who perform in the extravagantly named From Babylon to London for which we’re giving away tickets!
We also hear a track by singer Neyssatou (Badiaa Bouhrizi) from Tunis, Tunisia.
More info on our show and events on www.sixpillars.org

Six Pillars – #IranUKSonics Residency Preview: Niloufar Em

Visiting field recordist form Iran, Niloufar Em discusses Six Pillars’ current residency project at London College of Communication, and the group performance at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre on Friday 13th December, 6pm. Tutored by seminal guitar manipulator Keith Rowe, the group, consisting of six LCC Sound Art and Design graduates and the five visiting Iranian artists, had just 4.5 days to prepare. Here Niloufar also discusses the week of workshops that follow the performance, including a field recording workshop with world-renowned field-recordist Chris Watson.
Performers were Niloufar Em, Heckmat(t), Nasim Khorassani, Sepehr Haghighi, Nemo Ghasemi, Howie Lee, Yiorgis Sakellariou, Maria Popadomanolaki, Irina Zakharova, Artur Vidal, Angela Yeowell and Veryan Weston.
For more information go to www.sixpillars.org/IranUK

Six Pillars – On Farideh Lashai, An Interview with the Artist’s Daughter


In tribute to Farideh Lashai (1944-2013), we podcast this phone interview with her daughter during an installation at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde in Dubai. Here Maneli describes the intricate videos and the ethos and methods behind her mother’s animations. Until she passed away, Lashai had been creating works for over 40 years transitioning between various mediums and becoming a heavyweight on the Middle Eastern arts scene. Even before exhibiting artwork she trained and worked in crystal manufacturing workshops in both Germany and Austria as a designer for years. She had also studied German literature, translating several plays by Berthold Brecht (1968-2008); before concentrating on fine art as a career. She was also a writer, her novel Shal Bamu, was a best seller and garnered the attention of Iranian literary circles. Lashai was also one of the founders of Neda Group which is a group of 12 Iranian female painters who reflected on themes such as identity.

Keep Your Interior Empty of Food that You Mayest Behold There in the Light of Interior (video) 2012

Six Pillars to Persia is a focus on Middle Eastern arts and culture, broadcasting weekly on Thursday evenings at 7.30-8pm, repeated Mondays 8.30-9pm GMT on 104.4FM across London, or www.resonancefm.com/listen
www.sixpillars.org
The 2nd series of Six Pillars to Persia has run weekly since 2007, the first in 2005-6.
Some content is podcast-only and not broadcast on air.
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Six Pillars has received a variety of acclaim including listings as ‘Critic’s Choice’ in The Independent newspaper and a write-up in the BBC R4 dramatised book ‘Radiohead’. Previous guests have been comic Omid Djalili, Abbas Kiarostami, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi and galleries such as Saatchi Gallery.

The series is produced and presented by broadcaster Fari Bradley

Six Pillars- Audio Postcards from Iran

This Six Pillars radio programme is co-produced with musician Moslem Rasouli. We hear mainly from Iranians voicing their thoughts, not restricted to any topic, as audio postcards to the UK collated by Rasouli. We also hear Moslem’s own music (image left), as well as Six Pillars previous guest Hassan K’s latest track and an exploratory saxophone piece by SoSoLa. Moslem’s parents are originally from Gilan which is a beautiful and verdant area of Iran which produces some of the most gorgeous folk music you ever heard. This is reflected in his electronic production which is as unique as it is organic, drawing on Iran’s rich tradition and musical lineage of instruments and musical system.

Six Pillars to Persia – New Directions


How has the advent of the digital age affected the artistic processes of both production and distribution? On how many levels does the advent of ‘the black mirror’ (aka the screen) and the age of information affect us all?
Discussion panel with sound artist/broadcaster Fari Bradley, artist/writer Sophia Al Maria and Stephen Beddoe University of the Arts. The discussion was organised by Caspian Arts Foundation and was originally intended to have been chaired by them, however at the last moment Fari had to step in to take the discussion on its course. Topics covered were the physical, psychological and social impact of the age of the internet on art and artists. Eavesdropper /Falgoosh Radio was created by sound artists Chris Weaver and Fari Bradley, as one of the Art Dubai Projects 2013, sponsored by the British Council.

Six Pillars to Persia – Ayman Yossri Daydban


What’s the art scene like in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? Artist and poet Daydban, is of Palestinian descent living in Jeddah. In this interview he tells us via translator (Adnan Manjal of Athr Gallery, representing Daydban at Art Dubai where the interview was recorded) about his work and life in the region and recites a poem in keeping with the work in show at Art Dubai. His work is poignant and at times even slightly comical, yet the core is tragic infusing the imagery, the framing and colouring with the spirit of the artist himself throughout all of his work.
Eavesdropper radio booth at Art Dubai Eavesdropper/ Falgoosh Radio was created by sound artists Chris Weaver and Fari Bradley for Art Dubai Projects 2013, sponsored by the British Council.

Six Pillars to Persia – Alinah Azadeh’s The Shape of Things


Uk-based Iranian artist Alinah Azadeh discusses her massive installation ‘The Gifts’ at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, 2010 and how the process of binding in the work helped her when after losing her mother to the Asian Tsunami of 2004. This is our second interview with Azadeh who was commissioned to fill the Royal Festival Hall ballroom, Southbank with a large installation called The Bibliomancer’s Dream. New work by Azadeh will be on show during a Six Pillars exhibition at Hundred Years Gallery, London May 31st-June 16th more info on www.sixpillars.org For culture news and signposts, follow us on our mailing list or on Facebook www.facebook.com/SixPillarsToPersia