Tag Archives: Iran

Six Pillars – Hush the Many Heed the Few

Nima Tehranchi, singer from Hush the Many Heed the Few visits the studio and talks to Fari Bradley about his success with Hush the Many and with his own solo project “Sliding Rule“.

Nima plays live in the studio.

Hush the Many are known for their finely balanced vocal interplays and innovative songwriting and have appeared in festivals all over the UK. Since giving this interview, Hush the Many have gone their seperate ways and Nima now writes and sings with Arrows of Love. Importantly, after the show Nima mentioned that being a guest on Six Pillars had made him feel more like an Iranian and inspired to find out more about the Iranian community in London, something non-Farsi speakers have limited access to. Nima is not the first to point this out.

Listen to the interview

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Six Pillars – The Iranian Funk Scene

When you hear this stuff you are transported. So much energy and such a fine example of east-west musical balance.  On hearing these tracks the mind is drawn down images of side streets throbbing with nightclubs and bright fashion, in a setting of affluence and passionate youth.  The 70’s was a culture boom of fashion, music and norms in Iran that has not yet been equaled.  To top this, many Iranians left Iran never to return in the late 70s, so the era has become iconic.

Fari Bradley talks to Arash Saedinia, a Los Angeles-based music enthusiast and creator of the Fars Funk website, about his passion for vintage Persian popular recordings.

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Synthesizing indigenous traditions and Western influences, Iranian artists created a notable body of left-field psychedelic, rock, funk, and folk songs in the sixties and seventies. The show features songs from “Pomegranates”, a compilation of Persian pop gems due later this year from B-Music.

This programme was originally broadcast on Monday 16th June 2008 13.30

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Six Pillars – Insight & Rakshan Bani Etemad

A season at the British Film Institute of the work of female film director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad. Organised by small not-for-profit company Insight, the season was accompanied by masterclasses given by Bani-Etemad herself and marks the first ever comprehensive screening outside of Iran of her work.

David Omid Alamouti discusses Insight’s alternative models of film-making and the singular style of Bani-Etemad, masterclasses with Mike Leigh and Polish film.

Music by rap artist Reveal and Simorgh linked to Insight through a Contemporary Iranian Music event at Camden Underworld later that month that featured in the Bani Etemad workshops in a student film


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Six Pillars – Persian Electronic Music Yesterday & Today

Sote is a composer and sound designer living in America. On a chance visit to Iran he heard a unique sound he had never come across before, the 1960’s avant garde electronics of Alireza Mashayekhi. Sote’s interest then led him to develop a relationship with Mashayekhi with whom he recently released a double CD on Sub Rosa records. His roots in Germany, Sote developed a trademark process for audio that gives his work its bizarre shape and signature sound. After a release of drum and bass on WARP records, Sote moved into experimental music and sound on Sub Rosa.

In this show, Fari interviews Sote about sound processes and the moment he first heard Mashayekhi’s music. We hear two experimental tracks from the album Persian Electronic Music Yesterday and Today 1966-2006. Many thanks to Sub Rosa Records for allowing us to podcast these tracks.

This show was broadcast live from Resonancefm studios in London April 7th 2008.

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Six Pillars – Persian Esoterica ‘1

Mithras - temple fresco in Marino, Italy. 2nd Century A.D.

Mithras – temple fresco, Marino, Italy. 2nd Century A.D.

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All too often the English language refers to pagans as an insult, or a primitive people. Yet some of our most common roots are deep within these complex and highly telling belief systems, one of which: Mithraism Nabarz upholds as Persia’s greatest export to date.

Sufi-mystic Payam Nabarz discusses Phrygian Caps, snakes in ancient Persia and the calender of the moon. Zoroastrian and Sufi interests brought Payam to read up about Mithras, and he has steeped his life in the esoteric history of Iran and Zoroastrian rituals, publishing several books and numerous papers on aspects of both, available from Amazon

Fari interviews him on what Mithraism is and the different Persian calenders. For a deeper conversation on these matters refer to late Dec 08/Jan 09 when we invite Nabarz back in the studio for stage 2 in our radio foray into Persian esoterica.

This show was broadcast live from Resonancefm studios, London on March 31st 2008

Music: Kali Z. Fasteau

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Six Pillars: Les Ballets Persans & Lady Jamileh Kharrazi

New Iranian National Ballet with Lady Jamila Kharrazi, the Toos Foundation, and Nima Kiann of Les Ballets Persans, Sweden, prior to the gala performance at Logan Hall to mark Les Ballets Persans 6th anniversary.

In a country where dance and performance is highly restricted, ballet seems something left over from the days of the Shas, a testimony to the effects of the identity of countries the west has sought to dominate. Meanwhile we may be familiar with classical scores that have sought to capture the spirit of the middle east with endemic melodies on violin or the standardisation of a sound from the Middle East on the string section, creating a kind of platitude in music for treatment of subjects during the launch of the era of technicolour film (Alad-Din, Sinbad etc).

In an ambitious move, Nima Khiann presents not only the ballet but an entire history of the importance of dance in Persian history, simultaneously dictated in English and Farsi at the gala performance with some sufi dancing by his ballet company, where the girls exchange their trademark buns for the loose, wild hair of a mystic seeker. The sufi tradition, we are told encourages dancing, an irony not lost on an audience comprised of many seeking artistic and spiritual freedom here in the UK.

Lady Jamileh Kharazi discusses the ins and outs of offering events of this size for free and her own extensive background in ballet and performance.

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Six Pillars – Soheil Nasseri, Sonato No. 0 and BIBA

Classical pianist Soheil Nasseri gives an interview before his UK debut at The Royal Festival Hall. We hear pieces from Nasseri, details of unusual adventures in downtown US city schools and about performing the UK premiere of Sonata No.0, by little known Parsi Essex-born composer: Kaikhosru Sorabji, involving complex chords and fingering.

Also visiting the studio is Babak Emamian from the eminent British Iranian Business Association. BIBA endeavours to bring Iranians career opportunities and to help them find their way in the world of business. He and host Fari Bradley discuss everything from British-Iranian policemen’s balls to Calvinism.

This show was originally broadcast across London on 104.4fm on 17th March 08

Six Pillars to Persia has a FACEBOOK group, which receives early news of prizes and listings.

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Six Pillars – Inside the Mind of Clive Collier

A studio visit by Director of the film company Storm Creation Ltd: Clive Collier. Grandson and great-grandson of two Iranian poet laureates under the Shah, Clive discusses his milestone work where he single-handedly put together Sanctuary the only documentary on Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance and his present project the release Eureka: The Mind of Edgar Allen Poe.

The show features some early work on the soundtracks to the Poe project, which capture both the Gothic complexities of Poe’s mind and the era in which he lived.

Clive is also technical editor of Showreel magazine, which we did not have time to cover. We hope he will return with translations of his forefather’s poetry, more stories and more work on Allen Poe which knowing Clive, will be insightful, intuitive and inspiring.

This show was recorded live at Resonancefm studios, London on Dec 10th 2008, and was produced and presented by Fari Bradley.

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Six Pillars – Women and Sex in Iran

Six Pillars producer Fari Bradley interviews Dr Pari Esfandiari, the Editor-in-Chief of Irandokht. Entrepreneur business woman, Dr Esfandiari PhD, has built up a massive readership and a vital forum for Iranian women all over the world (dokhtar means daughter in Farsi). The site is an independent, non-partisan but politically engaged site that allows women to communicate and promote peace through understanding. It’s such a worthy cause that Irandokht is among 34 websites showcased by UNESCO.

Dr Esfandiari tells Fari about her recent article ‘Sex in Iran’ which she wrote with co-writer Richard Buskin for Playboy Magazine. This telling article is about lifestyles in contemporary Iran and the extent of social problems that exist therein.

The basis of the article is the news that a well renowned actress of some esteem had either made with her ex-boyfriend or been body-doubled in a home made video tape involving copious of sex and nudity. The tape made a ridiculous amount of money on the black market and the poor girl’s career and life hangs in the balance. Dr. Esfandiari explained that the popularity of the DVD reveals a society that is unsure of its own values. She points out the chauvinism that exists in Iranian culture, as most people sympathised with Madame X only after they saw her portrayed as a victim. The very idea of a woman enjoying sex is seems threatening.

The article also highlights the polarity and divides in society in general on this topic, with permissive and extremist views on women’s roles, illustrated by two completely polarized stories: a group of young girls fearing their families reaction were said to have committed group suicide after being featured on internet dancing with revealing cloths and bare hair, and reports of private parties where guests drink, socialize and couple off at the end of the evening.

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Six Pillars – Persian Avant Garde Music 1960’s

Mashayekhi’s work is woefully unknown to us the in the west, despite his completely unique and innovative methods and career that spans back to a pre-Shah Iran. From score writing to painting Mashayekhhi’s work reflects the unique way he thinks. Many thanks to Sub-Rosa Records for allowing us to podcast these pieces.

We also hear a short interview with artist Anahita Rezvani on her work, recently shown here at the Paraava gallery. She is interviewed at our request by her friend, who remains unnamed.
This show was produced and presented by Fari Bradley and broadcast from the Resonancefm studios in 2007.

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