Fars Funk

Tehran in the sixties and seventies was a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with a popular culture that embodied indigenous traditions and western influences. Young women and men wore mod fashions with a Persian twist: short skirts, paisley shirts, wide belts and bell bottoms, pegged pants and fancy scarves. Cinemas played a variety of films, including the latest offerings from the U.S. and Europe. There were discotheques, cabarets, pop radio shows, television variety programs such as "Rang-A-Rang." A small but significant record industry emerged, with pressings of top western hits as well as home grown artists. Persian Pop was a singles driven industry and supported a variety of recording artists, from Aref to Zia. Googoosh, the Iranian "It" girl, became a star at home and abroad on the strength of her vocal talent, style, and beauty. Artists such as Kourosh Yaghmaie and Mehrpouya, clearly aware of the now sounds of the west, incorporated rock, psych, folk and funk influences into their own songs. And there were Iranians working abroad, in Europe and the United States, releasing relatively obscure records, such as The Orient Express (which featured an Iranian member on electric sitar), and Fara Parsi, a mainstay of the New York nigthclub circuit in the late nineteen seventies.
The Iranian Revolution and the subsequent rise of clerics to power led to the virtual disappearance of the Persian Pop industry in Iran. Pop records were destroyed, outlawed. Many artists fled the country, some stayed. Luckily, many recordings survived. Fars Funk is an attempt to represent a unique era in a country and culture that has long been misunderstood in the West. We are at present working on an upcoming compilation of left field Persian Pop gems. Our collection, "Pomegranates," will be released later this year on the B-Music imprint. We hope you'll join us in celebrating the music. Enjoy!