Iranian Psych Legend Finally Released

This week I took delivery of the re-release of the album Back from the brink:Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock From Iran 1973-1979 by the Iranian artist Kourosh Yagamei. Yagamei makes some beautiful haunting music and I have linked to the track Khaar below:



We are all aware of how artists can be crushed, imprisoned or simply 'disappeared' if a Government fears that they are in a position to influence people or even if the Government thinks they can influence people. It's the old Soviet idea that everybody who is an intellectual, knows an intellectual or who as aspirations to be an intellectual is a potential free thinker and therefore enemy of the state.

When Kourosh Yashmaei released his first single back in 1973 it was purchased by one in five Iranians. Unfortunately his work drew the attention of the authorities and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution his work was banned for 17 years. That ban was briefly lifted but then reimposed. Even today his wikipedia page doesn't exist, although one for his eldest son does.

The release is beautifully packaged with two CD's and a fifty two page booklet which contains photographs, notes about the tracks (including what the lyrics mean) and the transcription of an interview with the singer/guitarist. In the interview he states that his favourite group are/were The Ventures, probably best known in the UK for the track Wipe Out, but he also cites The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Kinks and The Monkees among other influences. There are also hints of The Doors and Cat Stevens in some of the tracks.

He also talks of some of the absurd (to a westerner) actions that were taken by the authorities during the post Revolution period, such as the banning of female recording artists, the banning of western musical instruments and the destruction of Iran's rich and non Islamic musical heritage. Even after the ban on his music was lifted he still found it impossible to work freely and whilst there isn't any sense of him feeling sorry for himself it's hard not to feel pity on his behalf.

The most poignant part of the book, which is based around two interviews he gave in Tehran in September 2009 and April 2010, comes in the final two paragraphs where he recounts his attempt at recruiting his old band for a concert in Sweden. He tells of his shock at finding that so many Iranian musicians had either left the country or simply given up music and taken on other jobs, he concludes:

"I found my old and distinguished drummer Changiz Farjad in a Tehran bazaar, where he worked as a middleman. Changiz came to my studio. I thought that we could start a new band and begin the rehearsals. But when he sat behind the drums, he took the sticks in his hands and he became silent for a few moments. And then I saw one of the most bitter and saddest moments of my life. As tears came down his face, he lifted his head up and said, "I am not able to play anymore." Changiz Farjad, one of the best and most talented drummers of Iran, never played again."

As a postscript to this the booklet includes a note which says that Kourosh did put together a band, without Changiz Farjad, and played a series of concerts in Sweden and Norway in 1993.

The track linked to above gives some idea of the type of music being recorded in Iran during the 1970's and it is probably because of the obvious western influences in the music that Kourosh Yagamei was such an easy target for those in power in 1979.