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THE PERSIAN MUSIC-MAKERS
Phil Meadley
The Independent - United Kingdom
Published: May 04, 2007
A popular misconception is that Iran is an Arabic country, but this is
untrue, says one of its musical pioneers. Iran is a Persian nation,
and Persians couldn't be more different to Arabs, says the Hermes
Records boss Ramin Sadighi, who runs his label from well-appointed
offices in the business area of Tehran.
Hermes Records concentrates on world and experimental music. "Before
establishing Hermes I was an advisor to Book City," recalls
Sadighi. "They have stores here in Tehran, a bit like HMV, but selling
mostly poetry and books."
Sadighi speaks perfect English, is a highly educated family man and a
follower of Manchester United. "I suggested that Book City grew their
music side and imported music from abroad, so I put them in contact
with some major overseas distributors and record labels. It was the
first time after the revolution that music imports were sold legally."
He says that he chose albums that he thought would appeal to Iranian
tastes, and also music that would not oppose the regime. "I chose
jazz, blues, new age, experimental, classical, and electronic; all
kinds of music except Western rock and pop, which was banned after
the revolution."
After a good response to albums such as Peter Gabriel's Passion,
and a growing taste for world fusion, he asked himself why Iran
didn't produce music of its own in that kind of field. "I had good
connections to local musicians and was playing music myself. It was
the mid-Nineties and the only popular genres were Persian traditional,
classical, and Iranian-style pop music. In between there were gaps
waiting to be filled by experimental and world-based music."
So he invested in a few music projects and launched Hermes in
1999. "From that time until now we have been constantly producing
records and doing concerts," he says. "I honestly can't find a specific
genre that we specialise in. I targeted non-mainstream music, not
specific Persian classical music, because these were paths already
trodden by others, and not to my taste."
This year Hermes celebrates its seventh anniversary; last year it was
named label of the year at the 2006 Fadjr International Festival in
Tehran. But making money is an ongoing problem, as is censorship. "We
have specific regulations in Iran which other countries don't have,"
explains Sadighi. "For instance, to release music you have to first
get permission from the Ministry of Culture. They have a department
to check the music, especially vocal content.
Lyrics are very important for them. They need to check whether it's
against the system, which is forbidden. There are also some taboos
in the new regime, which we've had since 1979. For instance, talking
about sexuality, or extreme sexuality such as homosexuality: these
are forbidden."
This isn't a big problem for Hermes because much of its roster is
either instrumental, or shaped by ancient texts and philosophies. In
fact, the biggest problem facing Sadighi is that of copyright. "We
aren't protected by copyright laws, so the black market is dominant
over here," he says. "That's the reason that we have to make
sub-publishing deals in other countries. Here we don't have any laws
so the public broadcasters are able to play our music without paying
anything. We don't have any mechanical rights system, so the only
income in Iran is selling CDs, which normally retail at pounds 2.50,
and having concerts."
This is possibly why the label branched out into film soundtracks
by the likes of Peyman Yazdanian, and Ahmad Pejman. Hermes'
best-known albums are the Grammy-nominated Endless Vision by master
musicians Hossein Alizadeh and the Armenian Djivan Gasparyan, and
the Franco-Iranian group Nour Ensemble. Their last album, Alba, was
recorded in the ruins of the 1,600-year-old Ardeshir Babakan Castle
near Shiraz, in the South of Iran. It involved a 20-hour bus journey
and six days in the desert.
There are many preconceptions about Iran, says Sadighi. "I have so
many friends from abroad who come over here and immediately get a
completely different impression of the one they had from the media,"
he continues. "Some people are even amazed that we have music. Some
think that all Iranians own an oil well. Either that or they think
we're all terrorists or trafficking nuclear weapons. Of course this
isn't true. A good example of a fallacy about our culture is the
new film 300 [about ancient Persians and Spartans]. It's completely
harsh against the Iranian civilisation. They present us as a barbarian
country. If you watch that film you can find out who we are . . . all
you need to do is turn it 180 degrees on its head."
'Lunatic' by Ahmad Pejman and 'Crossing' by Peyman Yazdanian
are out soon via EGEA distribution; Hermes Records is at
www.hermesrecords.com
Phil Meadley
The Independent - United Kingdom
Published: May 04, 2007
A popular misconception is that Iran is an Arabic country, but this is
untrue, says one of its musical pioneers. Iran is a Persian nation,
and Persians couldn't be more different to Arabs, says the Hermes
Records boss Ramin Sadighi, who runs his label from well-appointed
offices in the business area of Tehran.
Hermes Records concentrates on world and experimental music. "Before
establishing Hermes I was an advisor to Book City," recalls
Sadighi. "They have stores here in Tehran, a bit like HMV, but selling
mostly poetry and books."
Sadighi speaks perfect English, is a highly educated family man and a
follower of Manchester United. "I suggested that Book City grew their
music side and imported music from abroad, so I put them in contact
with some major overseas distributors and record labels. It was the
first time after the revolution that music imports were sold legally."
He says that he chose albums that he thought would appeal to Iranian
tastes, and also music that would not oppose the regime. "I chose
jazz, blues, new age, experimental, classical, and electronic; all
kinds of music except Western rock and pop, which was banned after
the revolution."
After a good response to albums such as Peter Gabriel's Passion,
and a growing taste for world fusion, he asked himself why Iran
didn't produce music of its own in that kind of field. "I had good
connections to local musicians and was playing music myself. It was
the mid-Nineties and the only popular genres were Persian traditional,
classical, and Iranian-style pop music. In between there were gaps
waiting to be filled by experimental and world-based music."
So he invested in a few music projects and launched Hermes in
1999. "From that time until now we have been constantly producing
records and doing concerts," he says. "I honestly can't find a specific
genre that we specialise in. I targeted non-mainstream music, not
specific Persian classical music, because these were paths already
trodden by others, and not to my taste."
This year Hermes celebrates its seventh anniversary; last year it was
named label of the year at the 2006 Fadjr International Festival in
Tehran. But making money is an ongoing problem, as is censorship. "We
have specific regulations in Iran which other countries don't have,"
explains Sadighi. "For instance, to release music you have to first
get permission from the Ministry of Culture. They have a department
to check the music, especially vocal content.
Lyrics are very important for them. They need to check whether it's
against the system, which is forbidden. There are also some taboos
in the new regime, which we've had since 1979. For instance, talking
about sexuality, or extreme sexuality such as homosexuality: these
are forbidden."
This isn't a big problem for Hermes because much of its roster is
either instrumental, or shaped by ancient texts and philosophies. In
fact, the biggest problem facing Sadighi is that of copyright. "We
aren't protected by copyright laws, so the black market is dominant
over here," he says. "That's the reason that we have to make
sub-publishing deals in other countries. Here we don't have any laws
so the public broadcasters are able to play our music without paying
anything. We don't have any mechanical rights system, so the only
income in Iran is selling CDs, which normally retail at pounds 2.50,
and having concerts."
This is possibly why the label branched out into film soundtracks
by the likes of Peyman Yazdanian, and Ahmad Pejman. Hermes'
best-known albums are the Grammy-nominated Endless Vision by master
musicians Hossein Alizadeh and the Armenian Djivan Gasparyan, and
the Franco-Iranian group Nour Ensemble. Their last album, Alba, was
recorded in the ruins of the 1,600-year-old Ardeshir Babakan Castle
near Shiraz, in the South of Iran. It involved a 20-hour bus journey
and six days in the desert.
There are many preconceptions about Iran, says Sadighi. "I have so
many friends from abroad who come over here and immediately get a
completely different impression of the one they had from the media,"
he continues. "Some people are even amazed that we have music. Some
think that all Iranians own an oil well. Either that or they think
we're all terrorists or trafficking nuclear weapons. Of course this
isn't true. A good example of a fallacy about our culture is the
new film 300 [about ancient Persians and Spartans]. It's completely
harsh against the Iranian civilisation. They present us as a barbarian
country. If you watch that film you can find out who we are . . . all
you need to do is turn it 180 degrees on its head."
'Lunatic' by Ahmad Pejman and 'Crossing' by Peyman Yazdanian
are out soon via EGEA distribution; Hermes Records is at
www.hermesrecords.com