Namjoo’s unconventional approach to the dogma of traditional music in formal institutions pushed him out of the mainstream where he found a vast audience with his debut album Toranj. He single handedly took on the mainstream on several fronts transforming the traditional persian style into a modern rendition that attracted younger generations while simultaneously blending with western traditions of Rock and Blues. Namjoo did not stop with his great success as a musician and began to take on the dogma of traditional music lyrically. First with unconventional renditions of classical and neo-classical persian poetry and gradually with his own sophisticated, yet youthful and approachable sense of word play. There are no other examples of the Namjoo phenomenon in the contemporary Persian music scene. Given the circumstances in Iran, it is only natural that an artist like him would be lucky to find himself outside of the country, far from the hands of repression.
Mohsen Namjoo continues to connect with the hearts and souls of music lovers throughout the world. Payam Entertainment is proud to present a series of new albums in the coming months and launch a North American tour of Namjoo in “A Minor”, a major live production with his ensemble band.
Hailed as “the Bob Dylan of Iran” by the New York Times, Mohsen Namjoo is a visionary artist who speaks for and touches the souls of today’s youth. Seamlessly blending the Classical with the Modern, the Eastern with the Western, the ancient with the current, Mohsen Namjoo is a musical maverick. A Non-conformist who not only takes on the centuries old traditions of Persian music, but also his own approach to composition, style and sound. Namjoo in “A Minor” showcases his mastery as a vocalist, composer and Setar player with a full ensemble band of talented artists to create a truly unparalleled musical experience for those who think “World Music Is Not Enough”! (From Mosen Namjoo's official website)
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| Mohsen Namjoo |
Squeezing the ancient tunes of traditional Iranian music out of a guitar, Mohsen Namjoo -- called by some the “Iranian Bob Dylan“, performs his one-man show in an underground concert. His music evokes a merry vibration thumping under the coat of solemnity the streets of Tehran are wrapped with. The piece that starts with a typical image in mystic Persian poetry -- the beloved’s flying black locks, with “beloved” connoting the Creator. The poetic cliché breaks into pieces when the register of the language is all of a sudden catapulted into a colloquial Farsi, of frequent chat-up lines and borrowed Western words like “blonde.” The burlesque ends with a sarcastic one-word finale lamentingly trilled in a traditional mode: “hairdryer.” The creaky frame of strict traditionalism caging the range of guitar strings and the naturalism of informal modern Farsi is symbolic of the worn wobbly social and political structures which continue to awkwardly contain the liveliness of a pragmatic people. (From "Drums of War Muffling Iranian Moderates" by Amir Azizmohammadi)
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