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YELL

Ustuqus-al-Uss

Sovereign

Abrahadabra |
Press
Archive
Reviews
YELL album reviews
YELL album review, Poney,
metalchroniques.fr, Jul 2014 [permalink]
http://metalchroniques.fr/wp3/2014/arashk-yell/
Voilà un album rare. Voilà un groupe qui me conforte dans une
idée que je traîne avec moi depuis plusieurs années. Voilà un OVNI
qui nous vient tout droit d'Iran et chanté en Farsi. Depuis que je
me suis rendu compte qu'il existait une scène metal en Afrique (google
is your friend), qu'on sait qu'elle existe en Amerique, du nord ou
du sud, en Asie, en Europe et maintenant aussi dans tout l'Orient
(et plus seulement le Proche Orient ou l'Extrême Orient), je pense
qu'il est grand temps de dire quelque chose et de le crier haut et
fort : la vraie « world music », ce n'est pas les crasses pour
hippie qu'on nous ressert chaque fois entre deux bouffes Bio dans un
festival alternatif. Non. La vraie « world music », c'est du putain
de Heavy Metal ! Pas un continent et sans doute pas un seul pays
n'est épargné, Corée du Nord incluse. Je suis prêt à le parier.
Alors, les petits mecs de Arashk ont sans doute pas mal de mérite.
Je ne connais de leur pays que peu de choses. Je sais déjà que leurs
femmes sont souvent très belles et que leur président n'est pas en
odeur de sainteté parmi nos médias et nos dirigeants (je ne pense
pas m'aventurer trop loin en disant que le péquin moyen s'en fou
complètement). Je pense cependant qu'ils ne viennent pas du pays le
plus simple pour vivre pleinement leur passion pour cette musique.
Mais peut-être je me trompe…
Laissons donc de côté ces considérations esthétiques et politiques
pour se pencher sur ce Yell, sorti en 2008 (et reçu en 2012 à la
rédac' mais, heu, un fâcheux contre-temps m'a empêcher de m'y
consacrer plus tôt).
Arashk, c'est trois gars multi-instrumentistes qui ont décidé de
faire du Heavy à l'ancienne. Ils ne révolutionnent pas le genre
(quoi que, le chant en Farsi, sur base de poèmes multicentenaires et
l'ambiance orientale est bien là) mais je dois avouer que certains
passages sont vraiment plaisants. Étrangement, le morceau qui m'a le
plus enchanté est une ballade intitulée « Groanings ». Le chant au
début est un peu laborieux (c'est régulièrement le cas sur l'album)
mais une fois le morceau sur sa lancée, le tout est sympa.
Ce qui est surprenant sur ce Yell c'est la capacité de Arashk à
faire un morceau de chaque style, on trouve à la fois du rock «
classique » sauce 70's, des trucs plus prog', plus mélo, des riffs
un peu plus hards comme sur « HurMazda ». On sent que les musiciens
ont du se gaver de groupes comme Rush.
En fait, le gros point noir de cet album est sa production.
J'imagine que c'est sans doute le plus difficile pour des gars en
Iran. Mais le chant est trop en avant, les guitares sont un peu en
retrait, avec trop de compression et un son synthétique (trop
d'ordinateur?). Le chant aurait mérité une petite post-prod' pour
corriger les petits erreurs et lui enlever son côté « son de karaoké
». Enfin, la batterie manque de percutant.
Moi je dis quand même que tout ça est bien cool. Du metal en Iran,
si ça c'est pas une putain de bonne nouvelle ! Welcome in the
Brotherhood !
Poney (06/10)
YELL album review, Eva Oswald, Stormbringer, May 2013 [permalink]
http://www.stormbringer.at/reviews.php?id=9306
Das jüngste Werk von ARASHK trägt den passenden Namen „Yell“. Mit
diesem Titel wollen sie herausschreien, was ihnen die Rockgegner im
Iran verbieten wollen. Die Band selbst nennt ihren Stil Hard Rock
mit kulturellen persischen Einflüssen und das erste was somit gleich
auffällt, ist der doch sehr eigenwillige Gesang, der auf Persisch
vorgetragen wird und orientalische Elemente erkennen lässt.
Für die Band ist es im Iran nicht immer leicht, da diese Art von
Musik nicht von vielen Leuten unterstützt wird. Trotzdem haben sie
von 2001 bis 2008 mit viel Ehrgeiz an ihrer Musikkarriere gearbeitet
und ein Werk wie „Yell“ herausgebracht. Leider wurde die Band danach
inaktiv, denn sie hatten keine Möglichkeit mehr im Iran Konzerte zu
spielen.
Die gesamte CD ist eher ruhig gehalten, einfacher Rock mit ein
paar Punk-Anteilen, zwischendurch sind aber auch ein paar verzerrte
Hard-Rock-Melodien anzutreffen. Generell kann man sagen, es ist
nicht unbedingt etwas für den westlichen Geschmack, aber dennoch
haben sie etwas kreiert, was die meisten Leute so bestimmt noch
nicht gehört haben, denn orientalisch angehauchter Gesang mit
Stromgitarren zu vermischen, ist nichts Alltägliches.
Die Produktion der CD und die Aufmachung des gesamten Werkes sind
nicht herausragend, aber dennoch finde ich es wichtig über Bands zu
schreiben, die in ihrem Heimatland wenig Chancen haben, sich Gehör
zu verschaffen.
YELL Album Review, Jeanny, Osnametal.de,
Feb 2012 [permalink]
http://www.osnametal.de/cdreviews.php?articleId=2714
Metal aus dem Iran? Arashk sind mit ihrem Album Yell dem Geist
ihres Landes voraus.
Schwierig hat man es im Iran, sowieso in der arabischen Welt, mit
Metal. Obwohl es das Desert Rock-Festival gibt, wird über
kreischende Gitarren die Nase gerümpft. Umso bemerkenswerter, dass
Arashk ihren eigenen Weg gehen.
Dennoch dürfte Yell für europäische Hörer sehr
gewöhnungsbedürftig klingen. Instrumental erinnern die Songs mehr
einer Rockpolka als Metal. Instrumentensicher sind die drei Jungs,
das ist zu erkennen. Leider ähnelt ein Song dem anderen. Und sobald
der Gesang einsetzt, fällt dem Metaller die Frise vom Kopf. Pouyan
Khajavi hat zumindest für europäische Verhältnisse keine geeignete
Stimme. Noch dazu versteht man sein Englisch kaum. Und auch der
Mischer hat bei den Aufnahmen des Albums wohl geschlafen.
Bis auf die Lyrics, die persische Geschichten erzählen, sollten
Arashk die orientalischen Einflüsse zu Fall bringen. Mit Yell werden
Arashk in Europa keinen Anklang finden, bleibt für die Band zu
hoffen, dass sie in ihren Gefilden die Jugend an die Gitarre bringen.
Vielleicht klappt es dann ja auch mit einem globaltauglichen Album.
[GERMAN] YELL review,
Underground Empire, Stefan Glas, May 2012
[permalink]
http://www.underground-empire.com/article.php?idx=2153
Auf dem Cover ihrer 2008er CD »Yell« drehen sie uns den Rücken zu,
und auf der Rückseite präsentiert sich das Bandphoto farblich
verfremdet. Dies alles hängt damit zusammen, daß die Musiker von
ARASHK einer Beschäftigung nachgehen, die in ihrer Heimat nicht gern
gesehen wird: ARASHK stammen aus der iranischen Hauptstadt Tehran,
wo die Band im Jahr 2001 von Pouyan Khajavi (v, g, b) und Shahram
Khosraviani (d) gegründet wurde, zu denen 2004 der Gitarrist Salim
Ghazi Saeedi stieß, der mittlerweile auch als Solokünstler aktiv ist.
Für Musikfreunde, die in den Bereichen zwischen Progressive,
Metal und Rock wildern, haben ARASHK ein sehr interessantes Werk
geschaffen, was nicht nur damit zusammenhängt, daß aufgrund der für
unsere Ohren sehr exotisch anmutenden Sprache ein ungewöhnliches
Klangbild entsteht; sondern auch die Songs an sich sind
unkonventionell gestrickt, ohne daß dabei vordergründig wie bei
manchen anderen Bands aus dem orientalischen Raum Einflüsse aus der
traditionellen Musik zur Geltung kämen.
Sicherlich ist bei ARASHK spieltechnisch noch einiges zu
optimieren, und auch die Aufnahmetechnik entspricht nicht westlichen
Standards, doch solche Maßstäbe wollen wir an dieser Stelle erst gar
nicht anlegen, sondern uns freuen, daß die vielfältige Progressive-
und Metalszene um eine weitere Facette bereichert wurde!
Wer sich für ARASHK interessiert, findet auf deren Homepage oder
den diversen anderen Internetpräsenzen, die man von dort aus
erreichen kann, einige Reinhörmöglichkeiten: http://www.arashkband.com/
Abrahadabra album reviews
Sovereign album reviews
Ustuqus-al-Uss album reviews
Visit here:
http://www.salimworld.com/press-archive.htm
Interviews
BBC Persian, Behzad Bolour, Interview
on Abrahadabra release, 19 Jan 2007 [permalink]
You can
listen to the audible interview here. [in
persian]
The interviewer at BBC Persian, 7th Night radio program is Behzad
Bolour.
Salim: Hi Behzad, and all people who are listening us, I’m Salim
from Arashk Band, I play electric guitar, keyboards and also do the
mastering and mixing of songs.
Pooyan: Hi, I’m Pooyan, I play electric guitar and I’m the singer of
the band.
BBC Persian: Guys who have visited our website (shabe7.com) must now
be familiar with your faces as your photos are now available on our
website. So, when did you establish the Arashk band?
Salim: Arashk has been established in year 2001; At first Pooyan and
Shahram established the band and I joined the band with some delay.
BBC Persian: Ok, so I ask Pooyan, what does Arashk mean?
Pooyan: As you know, Arashk was a great king of Parthia Empire, and
also it is a Persian name.
BBC Persian: How many albums are recorded?
Pooyan: We have made 3 albums but 2 of them are finished. The
Abrahadabra album and the Sovereign album are instrumental, but Yell
(Faryad) album is a hard/progressive rock album which uses Persian
classic poems, its style somehow differs from two other albums.
Salim: As we have played together for a long time, our style has
changed and the result is 3 albums with different kinds of music.
The Hourmazda song [which you are currently playing] is from Yell
album.
BBC Persian: We are talking to Arashk band, Pooyan and Salim, you
say you play progressive rock, what do you mean of that?
Salim: I think that’s a kind of music that is more focused on solos
and varying rhythms; it somehow pays more attention on the melodies.
BBC Persian: Have you had any concerts in Iran?
Salim: Up to now we have had 3 concerts in Iran; all of them were at
universities, because they don’t have the problem of acquiring
permission. Recently we were getting ready for another concert in
Tehran, but the government canceled all of the them and they have
somehow banned running concerts.
BBC Persian: So they should build a place and name it Bangers'
House!!
Salim: [laughs] I absolutely agree!
BBC Persian: So Arashk band, you just get together and play? Having
no concerts and no CD’s out in stores?
Salim: You know in Iran we have so many problems with publishing an
album, so we decided to sell our music via our website, nowadays
independent rock (indie rock) is becoming more popular among
listeners.
BBC Persian: Pooyan, do you sell your new album, Yell, on your
website?
Pooyan: Not yet, it will be published soon. But now the Abrahadabra
is ready for purchase.
BBC Persian: Then how do you feel these days about playing music in
your band? Don’t you feel hopeless?
Pooyan: Well, I don’t know, I play music because if I don’t, I can’t
live, I have to play music.
BBC Persian: Where do you play? I mean do you have a place for your
band?
Pooyan: Yeah, we have a place for playing, it is a small room in
Shahram’s house, we get together there.
BBC Persian: And where have you recorded your music? In studi?
Pooyan: Well, better to say in our home studio, we record in our
private studio and record the songs ourselves.
BBC Persian: As you must know, today, hip-hop music is more popular
in Iran, and people listen to Iranian rap and hip-hop more than
Iranian rock players, and also rap and hip-hop singers are composing
more songs than rock bands. What do you think about that? Don’t you
think one reason is that making a rap song is very easy? You’ll just
need a microphone and sampled music.
Pooyan: I think, as you said it can be an important reason. And you
know, in all over the world rap and hip-hop has become more popular
among people, TV channels play more rap and hip-hop than rock music.
In Iran, people are doing the same as other countries. People don’t
pay much attention to rock music
BBC Persian: What do you think about the fact that most of the rap
songs are over 18, because of the kind of language that they use?
Pooyan: Well, I know so many people [in Iran] who just listen to
this kind of music because of the kind of the language being used;
because they haven't heard bad words in an [Iranian] song before, so
they say “Oh, how amazing, that’s cool” and they listen to that,
people don’t listen to the music any more, they just listen to the
words. We don’t appreciate that.
BBC Persian: But at the beginning, rock music did this too, I mean
rock bands started to talk about ordinary things. But it was a
movement itself; as it was against having a complicated worldview
and so on and by this method they became popular among the people.
Pooyan: That could be true, but I don’t think like that!
BBC Persian: Thank you Arashk band, Pooyan and Salim, keep on
playing rock music. Have a good time, bye.
Link to BBC "7th Night" radio program website
Progarchives.com interview with
Arashk by Torrod Fuglestag, May 2010
[permalink]
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=67120

ARASHK are a progressive metal band from Tehran, Iran consisting of
Pouyan Khajavi (guitars, vocals, bass), Salim Ghazi Saeedi (guitars,
keyboards) and Shahram Khosraviani (drums). ARASHK members are
eastern minded guys who enjoy western music and bring their own
unique interpretation of progressive rock. The band is mostly
instrumental but does include some vocals.
(Anonymous biography writer, ProgArchives)
Excellent. Bands like Arashk have an interesting story to tell and I
was delighted when I was able to do an interview with them. Both
Salim and Pouyan answered my questions.
***********************************************************************
Your band is a band with even it's own cultural position and is
important enough to merit a Wikipedia article. I refer to that one
for the biography.
But what is your musical philosophy and what does Arashk mean ?
Pouyan: Arashk is the name of the founder of Ashkanian Empire (Arsacid
Empire). Although Arashk’s reign as a king was not long (250 BC to
247 BC) but the empire he established, ruled Iran for about 600
years. He was the one who regained Iran’s freedom from the dominance
of Seleucid Empire which was a Greek Empire ruling Iran. His name
stands for standing against the unpleasant situation and trying to
change. We have tried to blow the spirit of moving in our songs, we
have also tried to emphasize on the fact that living beings should
break the surrounding boundaries to survive and this is not merely
limited to our lyrics but most importantly exists in our music.
The book Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance and the Struggle for
the Soul of Islam By Mark LeVine describe an own Islamic scene with
it's own music. Please tell us more about your scene and the life
and censorship situation in Iran.
Salim: Iranian music industry is administered in a very old
fashioned way and is isolated from outside world. So we’ve preferred
to focus on customers outside Iran specifically to adapt to ever
growing demand of digital music. Censorship exists but I believe a
healthy and up to date business environment is more critical. There
are technological limitations for ebanking in Iran - which are
mostly due international embargos. Meanwhile Iran is not bound to
international copyright laws.
Pouyan: A serious problem in Iran is that events that lead to
gathering of youths are being prevented and this policy becomes more
serious when it comes to Hard Rock … So in Iran we cannot have live
performances which is vital for a rock band, as a result Iranian
rock bands tend to immigrate to foreign countries so they can at
least play for people and have their connection with people which is
the main point in any kind of art.
What is the difference between pop/rock music in the west and the
Iranian scene?
Salim: In my opinion, however that there are growing trends for
pop/rock music among Iranians, the dominant music scene in Iran -
even among many younger generations - is still traditional music.
Most of Iranian people enjoy their ancestor’s heritage… You know
sometimes even in a weird way! Iranians have a kind of mythological
impression on everything… e.g. we have sayings like “The Art does
belong to Iranians”. Of course these are merely reflections of
traditional and outdated views that still dominate. I think it makes
Iranian artists pretentious and outmoded not even in form but in
idea.
Pouyan: As Salim and I mentioned above, in Iran, rock music is not
permitted to be communicated to people and its fans. As a result,
the only kind of music that is widely available to public is Iranian
traditional music (although even traditional music is not completely
free from censorship!); so maybe people still listen to traditional
music because they don’t have quite a choice among Iranian artists.
Rock music in general (English rock bands and Iranian ones) is being
listened by a small portion of today’s young generation in Iran. But
Iranian Pop music which is quite different from American and
European Pop music has always been popular among people, but they
face limitations for selling on the market. In the past, people used
to copy music from each other’s tapes. But after MP3 came in,
copying has become even easier. So songs are shared in the internet
and people download them and give them to each other. In recent
years, American Hip-Hop music has been growing more popular among
the youth, and so, came the Iranian Hip-Hop. Iranian musicians who
work in this genre are growing in number, but again all the music is
shared through the internet and songs are not allowed to be sold on
the market.
Please give me your (long or brief) thoughts and lowdowns on your
albums.......
Salim: Arashk has released four albums from which I have composed
Abrahadabra, Sovereign and Ustuqus-al-Uss that are all instrumental
progressive rock. The fourth album, Yell, is a hard/progressive rock
album, mainly composed by Pouyan. In Yell, I have had contributions
for rhythm guitars and some secondary guitar solos.
Abrahadabra from 2007
Salim: Abrahadabra is a reflection of my exaggerated personal
feelings. It is the first endeavor to my idea of “pictorial rock” -
i.e. the composition of sounds that recite sequence of mental
pictures. Actually all of those instrumental tracks have a real-life
story behind them. There are very vague allusions to these stories
in CD booklet. e.g. “Route” is a story of a death ceremony and
reflects the mourning over dead in way that is done in eastern
culture. Or “Told to the Bird” is story of me confessing to a bunch
of flying birds in a ritualistic way… In one word I was very
lovesick, idealist and outraged while composing them.
Sovereign from 2007
Salim: Sovereign is an instrumental recitation of Shahnameh (The
Epic of Kings) i.e. an extensive Persian epic poems written by
Ferdowsi (935–1020) as a collection of Persian mythologies. You will
find western rock instrumentation with eastern flavor. Some songs I
think are apt to be adapted for traditional Iranian dance;
especially “Sovereign” and “Harem” tracks. I am looking forward
choreographic performance adaptation for this work whenever
possible. Imagine Iranian “Coffee-house” paintings and belly dance
with distorted guitars performing cheerful rhythms… Unusual
combination? No, to me that sounds all natural!
In this album Pouyan contributed to generating some theme ideas for
some songs.
Ustuqus-al-Uss from 2008
Salim: In this album I somehow inclined to jazz fusion and classic
instrumentation. I think the eastern “blend” still dominates e.g. in
“Ustuqus-al-Uss-al-Avvalin-val-Akharin” which I think is the most
progressive tune I have ever made (The second catchy guitar solo is
performed by Pouyan). Some songs are extremely personal e.g. “Naught
been I thou” which is a off-beat jazzy with unusual dance elements…
These songs are my utmost fears and hopes - to a degree that made me
mute from communicating by words. And thus they become instrumental
sounds…
Yell from 2008
Pouyan: The composition of the songs in this album started from the
very beginning of our band, and most of the songs were made before
Salim joined the band; but the recording and mastering of this album
took so long! This album is a true Persian rock album, where the
lyrics are in Farsi and some are chosen from Iranian classic poems.
But the soul of each song is very avant-garde; not old fashioned and
dusty! Each of the songs has its own spirit, mostly they draw you a
scene. For example the song “Yell” (lyrics by Ferdowsi) is the
conversation between a rebel and the king, (which is an Iranian
ancient myth, Kaveh and Zahhak). One can consider it as a theater.
“Falcons of the Sky” is also an epic music which describes a scene
about jet fighter pilots fighting in the sky and the feelings one
would have in that situation.
What is the latest update from your band ?
Salim: Arashk has been inactive recently. I am now focused on
composing a solo project which will be released within a few months.
It is mostly combination of screaming electric guitars, electronic
rhythms and classical orchestra… Beside the standard Audio CD
edition, I am mixing a dolby surround DVD (Quadra or 5.1 mix) that
can be listened in home theaters.
Pouyan: Actually I have lost my appetite in music recently and
that’s because we are not able to do anything public in Iran! (I
guess I’ve said it so many times in this interview!) But I’m trying
to change my way and think about other types of music, recently I’ve
composed 6 Turkish folk songs with electric guitar, piano and daf
(an Iranian musical instrument) and I had a great feedback from the
listeners, however that the performance was very private for some of
our friends. So I’m trying to free my mind to discover new
possibilities in music.
How is the distribution of your albums and what is your experiences
with the music industry ?
Salim: We have been indie artist and maintained the distribution
ourselves and limited to outside Iran. Of course we look forward
future possibilities.
Pouyan: Well, It’s a very hard thing to sell your music through the
internet without serious advertisement, concert and without having
anyone to know you! But we still had the chance to be able to sell
our albums, even in small numbers.
I guess this is a pretty difficult question to answer, but how would
you describe your music and who would you compare yourself with ?
Salim : I have an extremely versatile taste for listening music. I
listen to electronic music, classic and heavy metal in a row.
Actually it was http://www.progarchives.com that for the first time
used the term “progressive metal” for the band. Actually Arashk
consists of composers that gather from time to time to contribute.
Pouyan: We don’t have commitment to a specific kind of music; we
play whatever which feels right. I don’t think it would be a right
thing to compare different music bands with each other, but if I
want to describe the music we play - especially the album Yell, it
would be some kind of hard rock music with kinds of eastern taste.
This album may sound like several hard rock and heavy metal bands
such as Rainbow, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Megadeth
and so many other bands. Yell album may sound like the rock music
played during 70’s but heavier and more rhythmic than them. It
happened to me once that a friend told me there’s a song by some
band that sounds like one of ours, but that’s just coincidence and
it’s not a strange thing as long as we all play some kind of rock.
Do you have any regrets in your career ?
Salim: Making music makes me to suffer more... So if there should be
any regret, it is the selection of this path itself... But it has
been long time ago I stopped concerning about its ‘philosophy’. Now
I am just doing the work...
How do you see the future of Arashk as a band ?
Salim: It mainly depends on the geographical location that each of
us reside in future.
What is the daytime jobs of the Arashk members ?
Salim: I have part-time job to have something on the table. The rest
of time I am busy composing.
Pouyan: I’m still studying! … Master of science in electrical power
engineering! Which has nothing to do with art and music! So I still
don’t have a job.
What is your five all-time favourite albums ?
Salim:
[1] Nevermind (1991) by Nirvana
[2] You Had It Coming (2001) by Jeff Beck
[3] Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington (1955) by
Thelonious Monk
[4] Electronic (1991) by Electronic
[5] Youthanasia (1994) by Megadeth
Pouyan:
[1] Brave New World (2000) by Iron Maiden
[2] Floating (1974) by Eloy
[3] Emerson Lake & Palmer (1970) by Emerson Lake & Palmer
[4] Seasons in the Abyss (1990) by Slayer
[5] I Can See Your House From Here (1979) by Camel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A big thank you to the band for this interview. Their albums can
be bought from here, their PA profile is here and their homepage is
here.
Torrod Fuglestag, May 2010
Featured Artist on Stave
Magazine, Christy Claxton, Feb 2007
[permalink]
Arashk: A world away, but really right here with us.
By Christy Claxton - Editor
I was at the gym the other night, and I could see, but not hear
one of the many televisions airing some kind of modern day war
movie. Although I couldn’t hear it, I could tell that the storyline
had to do with a small group of American soldiers in some kind of
distress. I tried to read the closed caption dialogue, but was too
far away to see it clearly. However, I knew this group of soldiers
was intercepting the “enemy’s” radio transmit because the closed
caption would say: (somebody speaking Farsi.) Ooohhhh those Iranian
bad guys! Isn’t that just all-American of us? Popularize the
vilification of a nation we really don’t understand except in
simplistic, fundamentalist, self-censored terms. For you history
neophytes, that’s a wordy way of describing “nationalism.” And
that’s not a good thing. It’s just around the corner from fascism.
So let me set some folks straight on Iran. Just like all Americans
aren’t Bush-like idiots in boots, not all Iranians are scurrying
around looking for low-tech ways to bring about Jihad. Actually,
it’s a country of mostly nice people. And just as some “radical”
Americans embrace Middle Eastern culture (if you haven’t tried the
food, you’re really missing out), some “radical” Iranians embrace
Western culture; including something as universally “sinister” as
Hard Rock. A music both countries’ fundamentalists would consider
evil, but don’t anybody tell them they actually agree on something,
or the world might suddenly stop turning. A few weeks ago, Salim
Ghazi Saeedi of the rock band, Arashk, contacted me. He invited me
to sample his band’s music. It is a mixture of Western metal and
Middle Eastern/Oriental melodies and scales that give Arashk a heavy
gritty sound with this beautiful overlay of music most Westerners
are hardly familiar with. Needless to say, I was fascinated, so I
explored their website and myspace site. Arashk is based in Tehran,
Iran, and they make it no secret that they are hoping to break
artificial bounds and bindings. Sounds psychedelic, doesn’t it? And
truthfully, the music feels a little trippy. But in a good way. A
way that opens our minds to possibility; to universal oneness and
peace through music. When I replied to Salim’s email that I would
definitely write about Arashk because it was a positive statement
from two nationalities that need to find peace through understanding
and common ground, his response was, “the boundaries are broken!”
Indeed. Arashk’s latest release is “Abrahadabra.” It is an
instrumental album composed and performed by Salim, and it reflects
the hopes, agitations and quests of the composer. Something tells me
that Salim’s music represents many people of his country. Regardless
of where rock music is composed, it is always about breaking bounds
and breaking rules and exploring freedoms within many conscious
states. And it always speaks for many; not just a few. Future Arashk
albums will explore the functional faculties of “being,” and carry
on the message of breaking though boundaries and bindings. This is
music about freedom; however each of us defines it. Whether we need
to break free of personal oppression, relationship oppression, or
religious or political oppression, Arashk explores a universal theme
and reaches around the world to share it. In Iran, Arashk may be
considered radical and even dangerous, and in America, Arashk would
be considered radical and dangerous, too. Once again, rock music
breaches a taboo. And this one needs to be broken and embraced, so
check out Arashk, and buy yourself a CD and experience the oneness
and the vastness that is Arashk.
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