Banned in Iran

uPersia OctoberFoto:  uPersia

It’s sexy! It’s hedonistic! It’s the Islamic Republic of Iran (illegal version).

Radio Wave's Friday Ripple starts 2011 with a 2-hour set focused on one of the most exciting underground scenes in the world right now: Persian electro. It's from Iran; its artists and fans tend to identify with the cultural-linguistic term Persian rather than the geographical-political term Iranian; the Iranian authorities keep banning a lot of the really good stuff. 

Most commentary on underground music in Iran tends to focus on the Persian hip hop scene - long associated with open political dissent, and the most frequent target of police crackdowns. However, this week's show argues that Persian electro is, if anything, an even bigger cultural threat to Iran's theocracy. Daraje S3X (above) is a hugely influential single in Iran; long banned, it has by now spawned a legion of imitators, all pursuing the same vocal theme – namely, orgasms, and lots of them. In a country where women's rights have been greatly restricted over the past three decades, the electro scene is the country's one remaining medium where female sexuality is expressed and celebrated openly. 

But Persian electro is not just about orgasms: there's a huge range of stuff happening. For example, there are artists like Boombox, Armin Nosrati and Davood Heydarzade, turning Persian music into a drum-heavy electro sound that’s got as much in common with kuduro or nueva cumbia as with anything else happening in the Middle East. There are artists like Amir Mayani and Kamyar, producing French-influenced electro with Persian vocal melodies. Or, if you prefer your electronic music in a dark EBM style, there’s Amin Habii, whose music sounds like an Iranian version of the satirical mock-fascistic bombast of the 1980s Slovenian underground. 

(Iran's contemporary music scene also features a lot of house music, a lot of trance, and a lot of genuinely awful pop music featuring what appear to be Turkish and Pakistani influences - but we’re just going to ignore all that here.) 

In the absence of legal means of distribution, new Persian electro is distributed mainly online, though file-sharing sites. They're not too hard to find – just remember to search for “Persian” rather than “Iranian”. On the other hand, maybe you don’t want to trawl through hundreds of MP3 files of artists you’ve never heard of. The Friday Ripple is here for you! Load up the Radio Wave Jukebox, and select Friday Ripple > 07.01.2011 for a 2-hour set of only the hottest releases from the Persian electro underground. 

Here's the full playlist:
B3hrad BK, Hamid H1 & Sahra - Daraje S3x
TM Bax - Khoshkele Tehroon
Barobax feat. Gamno - Oon Manam
Kamyar - Ey Jan
Amir Mayani - Doroogh
Felex feat. Asal & Mahsa - Range Tan
Yas - Tamoomesh Kon (DJ Milad remix)
Boom Box - Biya baghalam
Amir Tataloo - Begoo Binam Nadidish
Griffin - Be Mine
Sahra feat. Hesam War - Daraje Sex 3
Omid Hajili - Robabeh
Omid Hajili feat. Farhad - Boom Boom
Armin Nosrati - Pari Va Mari
Hossein Tomi & KamiR - Az Daste To
T1 - Bom Bom
Amin Habii - Iran
Shadmehr - Kolebar (remix)
DJ Ramin - Soosan Khanoom (Electro Touch remix)
Urwis Band - The Chance (Shans)
TanBe10 - Raftim Bala
25 Band feat. Adel & Tamin - Bia Bia
Saeed Modarres - Faal (remix)
Hossein Tohi - Mano In, Ino Man
Shahinj Najafi - Vay Koshte Ma Ro
Gamno - Soote Delan
Davood Heydarzade - Maryam
Amin Aslani - Zeynoo
Nairiman - Yedel Mige Boro Ye Del Mige Naro
Afrshin Siahpoosh - Bi Haya
Arash Hatami - Aay Aay
Foad Moghaddam & Hamid Rahimi - Shab