FILM & MUSIC: JAZZ, WORLD, FOLK
Robin Denselow

The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 23, 2006

CD releases: The Rough Guide to the Music of Iran (Rough Guides/World
Music Network) pounds 9.99

Iran is a complex country where music has continued to flourish
even since the Islamic revolution of 1979, when western pop was
initially banned, and this wide-ranging guide is an eye-opening
introduction. There are gently sturdy classical performers, folk
musicians, virtuoso instrumentalists, and even rock bands such as
the laid-back Barad or upbeat O-Hum, whose lyrics somehow range from
contemporary angst to a beefed-up treatment of ancient Sufi poetry.

Then there are the regional bands like the sturdy and stirring Kamkars
from Iranian Kurdistan, famous for their Kurdish and Persian classical
styles played on long-necked lutes, fiddles and dulcimer. There are
Iranian Armenians such as virtuoso lute-player Hossein Alizadeh, and
black Iranians descended from African slaves, such as the Jahle band,
whose soulful, hypnotic Lullaby is one of the high points on a timely,
intriguing set.