Domestic production in 40% recession

Ramin Sadighi, the owner and director of Hermes record company, says that the Iranian industry is suffering from the same illegal-downloading which has plagued the Western industry. However, he claims, the Iranian industry does not enjoy other means for financing such as concerts and advertisement as freely and broadly as in Western countries. According to Sadeghi the domestic production is in 40% recession.

Aysel sings Arash’s song for Azerbaijan

According to AZERNEWS the Sweden-based artist Arash has written the Azerbaijani entry for the EUROVISION 2009. The song which is to be preformed by the 19-year-old Aysel was picked out of 30 submitted songs for the purpose. “I participated in the open call because my family originally come from Azerbaijan. So I wanted to contribute to this country`s going down in Eurovision history”, Arash explains. He is reportedly a fan of EUROVISION and as such rather confident about the victory of his song in the contest. Arash wishes that he was able to peform at the EUROVSION himself, representing Azerbaijan.

thanks to Mansour J.

Sadeghi: no new collaboration with Sirvan

Reza Sadeghi’s upcoming album “Cheghadr Sakhte” is to feature 14 tracks and unlike his previous albums he have several pieces by other creators such as Mehdi Zanganeh, Ashkan Rahimi, Hooman Alborz and Marjan Zanganeh. Sadeghi also announced that many might be shocked that the new album will not be enjoying new arrangements by Sirvan Khosravi, whose arrangement for “Vaaysaa Donyaa” became a huge HIT and he was said to be working also on the new album’s material. The man in black hopes that the fans will enjoy the album regardless.

Critics: Laleh’s album is a MASTERPIECE!

It was released less than two weeks ago but already are the Swedish critics unanimous that its a masterpiece! Laleh’s debut was both critically acclaimed and a crowd pleaser thanks to the MEGA-HIT “Live Tomorrow”. The follow up “Prinsessor“, however, received a rather mellow response from everyone! The third album, “Me and Simon”, which continues with Laleh’s trademark formula of trilingual troubadourism, is a blend of culture and genres. It has charmed the critics but it remains to be seen whether it does the same with the crowd or not! I personally love it, especially since I’m into a singer/songwriter style of minimalistic ROCK and POP at the moment. I am also thrilled about the fact that Laleh went with my desired concept and design for the cover! The main difference between this album and the debut is that in “Laleh” she had managed to play all instruments herself and record and produce the entire album single-handedly! Here however, she is no longer alone, her band and even the London symphony orchestra are present and can clearly be heard. The album features one beautiful song in Persian called “Farda”, performed with Laleh’s cute and charming Swedish accent! However every Iranian who hears songs like “Big City Love” immediately recoginses the distinct Varoojan influences in compositions and arrangements! “Me and Simon” even features ”Snö (Snow)”, the sound-track to the Swedish cinematic duology about “Arn”.

Half Iranian, made in Sweden!

“Made in Sweden” is a reality-documentary show currently shown in Sweden, in which a couple of the internationally renowned Swedish producers take on two young aspiring artists and develop them for the market. The half Iranian Janet Ava Leon is the female artist of the two, she started her singing career eight years ago in the all-girl teen-pop act PLAY. Janet is currently preparing her solo debut with the team, after having seen her performances in the show I personally can’t wait to hear the album due out February 18th. I’ve said it before and will say it again, the future belongs to half Iranians!

New Releases: Makan & Essi

Makan’s debut album “Roya” and Essi’s fourth album “Yeki Yeki” have both been released on CenturyRecordsUSA.com