An Iranian Community Site
Iran & Iranians — a bit of distant history
03 days ago
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- The extent of Persian Empire in Achaemenid era, via Wikipedia
Iranian cultures and arts are rich and diverse, and have their roots in the ancient civilizations that developed as early as the fourth millennium BCE — about 4,000 years before any theistic religion came to existence — across the Iranian plateau.
We have a rich history and culture that we should know about, celebrate and be proud of. Long before Islam came to existence, Zoroastrainism (6th century BC), was the ancient Iranian religion that advocated good thoughts, good More >
Niyaz, a blend of Sufi poetry & folk songs from Mid-East
02 months ago
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I had the opportunity to see the recent concert by Niyaz in the San Francisco Bay Area (at Yoshi’s Oakland in September), as part of their world tour. After performances in Oakland, LA and Vancouver, their tour went on to Tunisia, Turkey and Slovenia in October and they have concerts in NYC, Toronto and Philadelphia in November. For details on their upcoming performances see the event calendar.
I have seen Azam Ali perform since her pre-Niyaz days in late 1990s. Every time I’ve seen her, I have enjoyed her music more, and this last one was the best I’ve More >
Rana Farhan, blending Rumi and the Blues
03 months ago
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Rana Farhan, the New York based Iranian singer, along with her band, had a performance at Yoshi’s San Francisco, on October 2, 2011, that was quite well-received.
“I do not know how Rana manages to combine the classical Persian poetry with contemporary jazz and blues and make it sound so good but she does it,” said Sharareh, one of Rana Farhan’s fans at Yoshi’s in San Francisco.
As an Iranian American singer, Rana Farhan has found a way to sing the rich classical poetry of Iran with the underground sound of the America, jazz and blues. Her ability to fuse More >
Alamut, Ismailis and the Legend of Hassan Sabbah
04 months ago
by Nyayesh Memaran
in History
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We all have heard of Hassan Sabbah, the supreme leader of Nizari Ismailis order of eleventh century Persia, but only few know about the true history of this controversial branch of Shiite Islam and its leaders.
IsmailismIsmail lion
In 765 Shiism gave birth to a new branch, which arose from a dispute over succession of its 6th Imam. Today’s dominant and the main stream of Twelver-Shiites believe that their 6th Imam, Jafar Al-Sadigh, instead of choosing Ismail (his first and oldest son) nominated Ismail’s younger half-brother, Musa Al-Kazim as the 7th Imam. More >
Moshkin-Ghalam’s interpretation of Iraj Mirza’s “Zhohreh & Manouchehr”
65 months ago
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Zohreh & Manouchehr, the poem
Zohreh & Manouchehr is a 23-page long poem written by the early 20th century Iranian poet and satirist Iraj Mirza, who in turn based it on William Shakespeare’s poem “Venus and Adonis”. And this story has ties to the ancient Greek mythology.
It is the story of Zohreh (Venus, the goddess of love and beauty) who one day comes to earth in the form of a beautiful woman for a short rest, and by accident runs into the young and handsome prince, Manouchehr, next to a stream and at once desires him. So she sets out to pursue and More >
Let no love fall victim to Circumstance
4
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I first heard about the film Circumstance (also see IMDB and this) during its world premier at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. It was one of the 16 films out of more than 1,100 submissions that was selected for the Sundance film competition, and it went on to win the “Audience Award: Dramatic“.
Luckily I had the chance to see it at the San Francisco International Film Festival this week. Both screenings were sold out early on but I managed to get a ticket from a friend. I loved it. It is a beautiful, luscious, sensual and sexually charged More >
Mehrnoosh, a new voice in the Persian pop music
2
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I am generally not a huge fan of Persian pop music except some old timers like Dariush, Farhad (RIP), Googoosh, Haydeh (RIP), among few others, many of whom have been performing since before the 1979 revolution.
Among the newer pop singers I like the Iran-based Mohsen Chavoshi with melancholic love songs. The rapper, Shahin Najafi who is based in Europe, has got powerful social/political lyrics, though it is not really pop music.
And of course we have the SF Bay Area based Kiosk lead by Arash Sobhani, with his insightful social and political songs. But More >
Ethnic jokes in the Persian culture
3
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As I have discussed in About Iranians, Iran is a diverse country both geographically and culturally. Geographically we have it all — from the open seas and hot climate in the south along the Persian Gulf, to the dry and extreme climate of vast central and eastern deserts such as Dasht’e Kavir, to the cold climate of high mountain chains such as Alborz and Zagros, to the verdant north coast (Shomal) along the Caspian Sea with mild four season climate with high humidity and precipitation.
Ethnically Iran and Iranians are also quite diverse. Many of us use More >
Solstices & Equinoxes, and the Persian tradition
2
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There are four special occasions during a year — two equinoxes and two solstices — that have astronomical significance and they mark the beginning of the four seasons. But they also have cultural significance among certain people and cultures of the world such as Persians.
An equinox occurs when the length of the day and night is equal. More technically, the tilt of the earth with respect to sun is at its minimum at an equinox. Vernal equinox occurs on March 20 or 21, and it marks the beginning of Spring in the northern hemisphere of earth and the More >
Paintings of Maryam Naghshineh
1
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After the revolution of 1979 in Iran and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in the early 1980s, most art forms especially performing arts, were either prohibited (e.g. pop music or singing and dancing by women), or they became very limited and restricted in dealing with certain subject matters such as nudity and sexuality altogether in cinema and fine arts (e.g. painting & sculpture). In general, IRI hasn’t created a nurturing environment for the arts to say the least. Artists have continuously struggled to defend their works for publication, More >
