Stanford Humanities Center
Mohsen Namjoo is an Iranian artist, songwriter, singer, music scholar, and setar player (traditional persian lute). Nicknamed the "Bob Dylan of Iran," he is one of the most groundbreaking artists in the Persian music scene today.
Namjoo was born in 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, Iran, and began his musical training at the age of twelve, studying under Nasrollah Nasehpoor until the age of eighteen. In 1994 he was offered admission to study theater and music at University of Tehran. Since the music program at the university wouldn't start for another year, he first joined the theater course, where he learnt how to connect with an audience. At Tehran University he was a student of Alireza Mashayekhi, Azin Movahed, and other masters. Namjoo has also studied Iranian folk music under Haj Ghorbane Soleimani.
His unique music style resembles a patchwork of the classical Persian poetry of Hafez, Rumi, or Saadi and Western music, namely rock, blues, and jazz.
Since 2003, he has started recording parts of his own works in Tehran. His debut album, titled Toranj, was officially released in Iran in September 2007, and featured his own voice. He has also composed soundtracks for movies and plays, and was featured in the documentary Sounds of Silence (directed by Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz), which has been screened at international film festivals. He also appeared in the feature narrative film Few Kilograms of Dates for the Funeral (Director Saman Salur). Namjoo's first performance outside Iran was in January 2006 at the Tehran Hotspot of the International Rotterdam Film Festival where he played solo.
His Stanford visit is co-sponsored by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies. Mohsen Namjoo will be on campus from mid-October to mid-January, 2010. His residency at the Humanities Center was made possible through the generous support of the Flora Family Foundation and the Hariri Family.
Related material:
Live performance at the Pan-Asian Music Festival - Friday, February 5, 2010 Dinkelspiel Auditorium | 7:00p.m. Pre-Concert Talk on Music in Iran after the Revolution | 8:00p.m. Dela Didi: Do You See My Heart? Read more >>
Live performance by Mohsen Namjoo - Dah-e-Shast (The Eighties)
Live performance at the Humanities Center - Del Miravad
Live performance at the Humanities Center - Ro Sar Bench
Live performance at the Humanities Center - Untitled song in the Iranian Nava music scale
