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All Music Guide:
Mohssen Namjoo's music is best known for two facts: combining Persian (Iranian) traditional music with western music (Jazz, Blues and Rock) leading to intelligently-arranged assimilative music and a whole new way of singing, latter being the point he has been very criticized upon.
Namjoo was born in 1976, in small city of Torbat-e-Jam in northeast of Iran, but grew up in Mashhad. Torbat-e-Jam is best known for its dotar (a traditional Iranian music instrument) players. He began to learn Iranian traditional music at the age of twelve, after death of his father--which widely affected his life. He started his studies in traditional Iranian singing (avaz) under supervision of Nassrolah Nasseh-Pour in courses organized by Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Mashhad. After six years, eventually he completed the repertoire of Iranian traditional singing. In 1994 he entered the University of Dramatic Arts in Tehran as he was offered a position to study Theatre. A year after, in 1995 he joined the undergraduate music program at Tehran University where he was a student of some professional music instructors. During the days of studying music he also got familiar with western music. His music is essentially influenced by Jim Morrison, Chris Issak, Mark Knopfler, The Doors, Leonard Cohen and others.
Namjoo started to write music in early 90's. He has composed up to 100 pieces of music thus far nine of which have been published by Barbad Music in his first official album Toranj in 2007. He is also a lyricist but in most songs of Toranj, he has mainly preferred to use poets from great Iranian traditional poems like Hafez, Rumi and Sa`di. An interesting point about Namjoo's songs is that for even a Persian who listens to his music for the first time the words may be slightly hard to understand! It is totally because of his unique way of performing the vocals. This point is what many critics have criticized him upon. Some conservative people may find his way of singing, which often turns out to be quite strange and funny during a song, rude to Persian literature while others may find his efforts very intimate. As he himself states in a documentary made based on his life, his music is all about tearing apart taboos and experiencing new moulds. As far as Namjoo's music in concerned, it is obvious that he has proper affinity with both Persian and western music. He also has the courage to mix them.
Namjoo has also had some international performances up to now. He performed at a concert which was part of Tehran Hotspot at Rotterdam International Film Festival at Ro theatre as well as in couple of some other events in Utrecht, Venice, Rome (Academy of Fine Arts) and Paris (La Baline Balanche). In addition, he has composed music for number of Iranian short films, animations and plays since 1995.
Wikipedia:
Mohsen Namjoo, (Persian: محسن نامجو), is an Iranian musician, singer-songwriter. He was born in 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town in northeastern Iran. His unique style of music is influenced by Blues and Rock as well as Iranian folk music. The lyrics of his songs are also odd combination of Persian classical poems, his own lyrics, and contemporary poems; and uses the words freely with irony and sarcasm to carry the music and make a free style of singing.
The New York Times wrote, that some called Namjoo "Iran's Bob Dylan".Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Career[edit]
Namjoo was born in Iran.
In late 1997 and early 1998, Namjoo had his first two concerts, themed "modern combination of Iranian poetry and music". In 2003 he started recording parts of his own works in Tehran. His debut album titled Toranj was officially released in Iran in September 2007. He also composed soundtracks for movies and plays.
He was featured in the documentary Sounds of Silence (directed by Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz] which has been screened at international film festivals. He also appeared in a feature narrative film called Few Kilograms of Dates for the Funeral (Director Saman Saloor), played in various film festivals.
In 2009 he was sentenced in absentia to a five-year jail term by Iranian courts for allegedly ridiculing the ash-Shams, a sura of Quran in the song named "Shams". The conviction took place in spite of his formal apology. After establishing in the West, he sang this song in his Oy album as a single.
In 2010, Namjoo kicked off his "A Minor" tour with a new band ensemble centered around some of his most popular and courageous songs. In June they performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California (US). In October they performed at the Sony Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mohsen Namjoo also released a single titled "Such Strange Times" in June, a song which was sung in English.
In fall of 2011 Namjoo recorded his next album Alaki live during his concert in Stanford University. This album was part of his work in Stanford Pan Asian Music festival. Accompanying band was consisted of Ali bazyar (Percussion), Dina Zarif (back vocal), Tannaz Jaffari (back vocal), Serwah Tabbak (back vocal), Siamack Sanaie (Guitar), Mark Deutsch: (Bazantar, Guitar)
In fall of 2012, Namjoo released his new album 13/8. Thirteen/eight is a compilation of six pieces by Mohsen Namjoo, which were developed in the United States during the past year. The performance has been prepared in collaboration with California-based musicians James Riotto (Contrabass), Robert Shelton (Keyboard), Ezra Lipp (Drums) and Greg Ellis (Percussion). Payam Entertainment produced a series of live performances for 2012. The inaugural performance in Berkeley, California will be recorded in preparation for a future double-album release by the same title.
He also writes poetry, and sometimes uses his own satirical lyrics in his songs blended with the classical poetry of Hafez, Rumi or Saadi. His music and words are very emotional and, in his works, he creates a fusion of various styles from traditional Iranian to blues and rock.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
