Kourosh Yaghmaei

Kourosh Yaghmaei (Persian: کورش یغمایی‎ also spelled as Kourosh Yaghmaee, born 3 December 1946) is an Iranian singer, songwriter, composer and record producer, who started his career in the early 1970s. Regarded as one of the greatest Persian psychedelic rock musicians in the history of Iranian rock music, he is known as "the Godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock",[1][2] as well as the "king of rock".[3]

Kourosh Yaghmaei
کورش یغمایی
Background information
Also known asThe godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock, The king of rock
Born (1946-12-03) 3 December 1946
Central District, Shahrud, Semnan, Iran
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • composer
  • record producer
Instruments
Years active1973–present
LabelsNow-Again, Stones Throw, Caltex
Associated actsThe Instrumental
Websitekourosh-yaghmaei.com

Born in 1946 in Shahrud to Parsi parents, later grew up in Tehran. Most of his songs are a combination of Persian classical poems, his own lyrics, and contemporary poems. His styles of music are a mixture of Persian traditional music and the protein 1970s rock influenced by bands and artists such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.[4] He has significant styles in blues and rock as well as Iranian folk music. He is best known internationally for his unique presentation of the early Iranian rock throughout the 1970s. He began his solo career in 1973 with his first single "Gol-e Yakh" ("Ice Flower") which was a huge success (over 5 million copies sold in the domestic market).[5] Later he started solo career with the album Gol-e Yakh (1973) which also included this song. Several of his songs are well known by the Iranian diaspora and his hit singles such as "Gol-e Yakh", "Havar Havar" ("Shout Shout"), "Khaar" ("Thistle"), "Leila", "Paiz" ("Autumn"), "Reyhan" etc. In 2011, his first compilation album Back From the Brink: Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock From Iran: 1973-1979 was released by Now-Again Records. Vogue described Yaghmei as "psyche singer, stylish, moustached and funky".[6] He was banned for 17 years since 1979.

Early life

Kourosh Yaghmaei was born on 3 December 1946 in Central District of Shahrud, Semnan, Iran to a well-off family. His name Kourosh (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūrauš [7]; Kourosh}} originated from the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great (c. 600 – 530 BC).[8] He is second son as a part of the Yaghmaei family. His elder brother Kamran Yaghmaei and younger brother Kambiz Yaghmaei are also musicians. His grandfather was a landowner and one of his distant ancestors was a popular Iranian poet.[9] They had moved to Tehran so that Yaghmaei grew up there and studied at Shahid Beheshti University.[8]

Yaghmaei began his interest in music at his age of ten. He started to learning Santur, an eastern instrument, which was bought by his father. Soon he learned to play and primarily followed by the traditional Iranian music. Later he self-learned to play guitar,[10] at his age of fifteen,[11] and became interested in Western music.

Music career

1960s–1970s
The Raptures in Vanak Hotel, Tehran in 1960s

At his young age, he started his first band with some friends by listening to the vinyl of bands like Surf-rockers The Ventures. In the early 1960s, Yaghmaei joined a group named The Raptures who covers The Ventures, The Kinks, The Beatles, and The Monkees. In 1967 lineup of that group was Yaghmaei (lead vocal, guitar), Bahram Saeedi (electric guitar), Kamran Khasheh (organ), Jahangir (bass), Viguen (drums). He also played another group named Rebels for a while, later who gradually took their places in Iranian rock scene.[8]

In the early 1970s, at his age of early 20, Yaghmaei sated up his solo band along with his elder brother Kamran Yaghmaei and younger brother Kambiz Yaghmaei.[9] That time he was playing guitar, bass and making vocals.[8] His music consisted of combining Iranian melodies, instrumentals, vocals, and tones with Western harmonies, scales, and modes.

Gol-e Yakh
Main article: Gol-e Yakh
Yaghmaei made his debut Gol-e Yakh in 1973.

In 1973, Yaghmaei made his debut single when he was studying in Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. The song "Gol-e Yakh" was written by Mahdi Akhavan Langeroudi who was Yaghmaei's friend at the university and one of the significant modern Persian poet.[5][8] "Gol-e Yakh" penetrated beyond the borders of Iran, and thereafter various performances in other countries of the world continued till this day.[12][13] The song brought a great fame to Yaghmaei and it was adapted for various languages.[8] At the same year he released debut solo album Gol-e Yakh under Now-Again Records level,[14] an American independent record label based in Los Angeles which is also a subsidiary of Stones Throw Records.

When you stay by me, my loneliness is swept by winds
Winter flowers grow in my heart

— Mahdi Akhavan Langeroudi, "Gol-e Yakh", 1973, [9]

He released 4 singles from his contracted record company Ahange Rooz. In 1973 "Gole Yakh" / "Del Dareh Pir Misheh" and "Leila" / "Paiz", in 1974 "Hajme Khali" / "Akhm Nakon" and in 1975 "Saraabe Toe" / "Dar Enteha" was released. Despite the high sales from all these records he could only gain a modest royalty.[8] He released two albums before being banned, both of which are important works of Iranian rock history. Between 1975 to 1979, Yaghmaei recorded 24 songs in total. 17 of those songs were collected in two albums named Hajm-e Khali (1975)[15] and Sārāb-e Toe (1977) released in cassettes. The remaining 7 songs were recorded in the pre-revolution riot period between 1978 to 1979.[8]

Islamic Revolution

Yaghmaei performed on radio or television in Iran till 1970s.[9] During the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Islamic government that cracked down hard on his music.[16] Kourosh was no longer allowed to sing and perform publicly.[14] This ban on Kourosh's performances would affect his career. Aside from a few concerts in Sweden and Norway in 1993, he did not perform much outside the country. The authorities swiftly shut down his music and barred from releasing records and performing live.[9] Following the revolution, Yaghmaei spent over a month for recording albums Sol-e 1 (1979)- reissued on CD as Parandeye Mohajer by Los Angeles based record label Caltex Records, Sol-e 2 (1980, recorded with Fereydoon Foroughi) and Sol-e 3, which was renamed to Arayesh-e Khorshid during its release in 2000,[3] because during that time this album was about to be released the regime's pressure on music became more unbearable than ever.[8] According to Kevan Harris, a lecturer from the University of California, the government after the Islamic revolution were too much motivated to stop the impacts of Western and European culture; therefore it was convinced to diminish musicians like Kourosh.[8] Several musicians immigrated to cities like Los Angeles, Montreal, Paris and other European countries where exile communities were settled. Yaghmaei preferred to stay Iran for his principles. Where he stated that:

"I believed that if I had changed my career it would be an unrespectful behaviour to my music and myself and also it would mean betrayal to my cultural roots. Now that I look back, I am glad I did not bribe anyone or bow to pressures, but lived all these 37 years with honour. I believe even in an unequal battle, resistance is preferred to giving up."[9]

Yaghmaei, in From National Star to Enemy of the State, Vice, May 2016

Post revolution

Since the Islamic Revolution, Yaghmaei was forbidden for seventeen years. During this time he worked for the children and published books and cassettes. In 1987, he released his fourth solo instrumental Diar with a restriction of Iranian Government not to using bass, guitar and drums during the recording session. However, there were folkloric pieces arranged by Yaghmaei to be played by the Great National Orchestra.

1990s–present
Back From the Brink: Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock From Iran: 1973-1979 was his debut compilation album released in 2011

In the early 1990s, Yaghmaei got permission from the Iranian government to release albums under some restrictions. He released studio album Gorg haye Ghorosneh in 1990. Caltex Records titled his "best of the 1970s" as "Gole Yakh" released in 1991. During 1993, the restrictions became looser and Kourosh got permission to perform concerts in Norway and Sweden. In 1994 he released studio album Sib-e Noghreii (The Silver Apple), in which the regime didn't let him publish his portrait as an artwork, therefore tare was only graphic arts. In 1996 Mah va Palang and in 1997 Kabous was released.

In the early 2000s, he released two solo albums Arayesh-e khorshid (2000), which primarily recorded as Sol-e 3 was censored one track before released and Tofang-e daste Noghre (2001), was the last album that legally published in Iran.

Malek Jamshid
Main article: Malek Jamshid

Between 2003 to 2006, Yaghmaei worked with his last studio album titled Malek Jamshid.[17][18] After 12 years of trying to obtain the required permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the authority denied to release this album in Iran. Latter in 2016, since two years of restriction not to use types of equipment such as acoustic system, sound engineering, professional microphones, amplifiers, Roland keyboard, electric guitar, 8 track recorder and other necessary equipment[17][9] the album was released by Now-Again in United States and the album was banned by the Iranian government.[8][17]

He released debut compilation Back From the Brink: Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock From Iran: 1973-1979 in 2011.[19][20] A two-disc celebration of Yaghmaei's most well-known numbers, recorded between 1973 and 1979, before the Islamic Revolution.[21]

Musical style
Most of Yaghmaei's works used the Vox Continental.

Yaghmaei has unique Iranian style of psychedelic rock and blues-rock music. He brought a lot of innovation to Iranian rock,[22][23] using the keyboard as the rhythm of the song instead of the guitar is part of this innovation.[15][24] Such as describing a melancholic picture, blues riffs, strings and analog synthesizer sounds make a feeling that settles in the heart. As the songs last for 6 to 8 minutes approximately, many progressive movements could easily be a part of the music.[8] According to Iranian writer Ebrahim Nabavi, "Yaghmaei has had a profound impact on Psychedelic rock in Iran."[25] Yaghmaei is known as the father of Iranian rock music because of his deep influence on Iranian rock music.[26][27][28][29] "He was one of the people who was doing the Western-Eastern kind of hybrid music the right way," says Ashkan Kooshanejad, a British-Iranian composer.[9]

Personal life

Yaghmaei has two sons, Kaveh Yaghmaei, also a musician[30] and lives in Vancouver, Canada;[9] and Kamil Yaghmaei. He has a daughter named Satgin Yaghmaei. Due to his records being under heavy censorship in Iran, Kourosh now runs a private music school and studio in Tehran.[31]

Discography

Studio albums
  • Gol-e Yakh (1973)
  • Hajm-e Khali (1975)
  • Sarab-e To (1977)
  • Diar (1987)
  • Gorg haye Ghorosneh (1990)
  • Sib-e Noghreii (The Silver Apple) (1994)
  • Mah va Palang (1996)
  • Parandeye Mohajer (1996)
  • Kabous (Nightmare) (1997)
  • Arayesh-e khorshid (2000)
  • Tofang-e daste Noghre (2001)
  • Malek Jamshid (2016)

Live
  • Sol-e 1 (1979)
  • Sol-e 2 (1980)

Compilation

Collaborative
  • 50 Golden Songs of Giti, Afshin, Kourosh Yaghmaee & Fereydoon Farrokhzad – Persian Music (2004)

Singles
  • "Gol-e Yakh" (1973)
  • "Del Dareh Pir Misheh" ("My Heart is Getting Old") (1973)
  • "Khaar" ("Thistle") (1973)
  • "Leila" (1974)
  • "Paiz" ("Autumn") (1974)
  • "Sarab-e To" ("Your Mirage") (1975)
  • "Dar Enteha" ("At The End") (1977)
  • "Hajm-e Khali" ("Empty Bulk") (1975)
  • "Akhm Nakon" ("Don't Frown") (1975)
  • "Eshghe Iran" (1977)
  • "Zadeye Mehr" (1997)
  • "Ghahre Afyoun" (2012)
  • "Vatan" (2012)
  • "Fajehe" (2013)
  • "Kabous" ("Nightmare") (1997)
  • "Norooz (Iranian New Year)" (2016)
  • "Asmar Asmar" (2016)
  • "Pedar"
  • "Shabe Yalda"
  • "Nedamatgah"
  • "Panjerei Roo Be Sobh"
  • "Marde Khakestari"

Film score

In 1989, Bollywood song "Haa Bhai Haa Mai Hu Jawaan" performed by Anuradha Paudwal and Amit Kumar from the film Toofan directed by Ketan Desai was inspired from Yaghmaei's song "Havar Havar".

Title Year Role Notes
Gorghaye Gorosneh 1991 Composer Directed by Siroos Moghaddam[32]
Independent Lens 2009 music performer on episode 1: "Arusi Persian Wedding" TV Series (1999– )[33]
Appropriate Behavior 2014 Writer Song "Gole Yakh", directed by Desiree Akhavan[34]
Nuit chérie 2018 Music Directed by Lia Bertels

Vice Principals is an American comedy television series which in season 1, episode 4 called "Run for the Money" when Gamby and Russell experience Psychedelic drugs on themselves when Russell tried to sabotage the football game, the background music plays the song "Sarab-e To", a psychedelic single by Kourosh was released in 1975. The song "Sarab-e To" can also be heard in the 2014 American horror comedy film Summer of Blood.

Yaghmaei's song featured on several albums by various artists. His 1974 single "Gol-e Yakh"[35] about disappearing youth appeared originally as "Adam and Eve" on 2018 albums Nasir by American rapper Nas.[36][13]

Gol-e Yakh was also featured in "The Rock" episode of the Apple TV+ series "Little America", which focused on the immigrant life of an Iranian family living in New York.

gollark: Modern CPUs *do* have separate instruction and data caches though.
gollark: DO NOT use golang.
gollark: That's quite mean of you, helloboi.
gollark: Yes, it already hosts 1 (¹) MUD.
gollark: Ask and send me a public SSH key?

See also

References
  1. Keshavarz 2011, p. 39.
  2. "Announcing: Kourosh Yaghamei's Latest Album, Banned In Iran, Now Released In The West". Now-Again Records. 15 June 2016. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  3. Breyley & Fatemi 2015, p. 135.
  4. Nilufar (28 November 2014). "Music: Kourosh Yaghmaei, the Iranian Rock". Persiennes. Persiennes. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  5. Breyley & Fatemi 2015, p. 129.
  6. Olivier Lamm, Par (6 September 2011). "Kourosh Yaghmaei, rock star iranienne" (in French). Paris: Vogue Paris. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  7. Bachenheimer 2018, p. 188.
  8. "Kourosh Yaghmaei : The Resisting Psychedelic Rock Icon of Iran". Trip Magazine (1). April 2018.
  9. Peter, Holslin (18 November 2016). "From National Star to Enemy of the State: Iranian Rock Pioneer Kourosh Yaghmaei Fights On". Vice. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  10. "Interview with the Godather of Persian rock Kourosh Yaghmaei" (Interview). Interviewed by Kyle Avallone. Alt Citizen. 2017. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  11. "Kourosh Yaghmaei". munster-records.com. Munster Records. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  12. "دردنامه كوروش يغمايي؛ 25 سال ممنوع‌الکار بوده‌ام « سایت خبری تحلیلی کلمه". kaleme.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  13. Sodomsky, Sam (16 June 2018). "Nas Releases New Kanye-Produced Album Nasir: Listen". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  14. Gouvrion, Alain (17 November 211). "Kourosh Yaghmaei, Back From The Brink" (in Persian). Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  15. "کوروش یغمایی | کوروش یغمایی ، پدر موسیقی راک چطور زندگی کرده است؟". Persianv (in Persian). 1977. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  16. Fanen, Sophian (17 December 2011). "Rock around Téhéran" (in French). Liberation. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  17. "KOUROSH YAGHAEI's album Malek Jamshid released in the west after censorship in Iran". Now-Again Records. 10 June 2016. Archived from the original on 20 May 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  18. Irfani, Faisal (23 February 2019). "40 Tahun Revolusi Iran 1979: Geliat Musik Bawah Tanah Iran 40 Tahun Pasca-Revolusi" [40 Years of the 1979 Iranian Revolution: Twisted Iranian Underground Music 40 Years Post-Revolution] (in Indonesian). Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  19. Roberts, Randall (21 August 2011). "'70s Iranian rock of Googoosh and Kourosh gets reissued [MP3]". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  20. "Kourosh – Back From The Brink: Pre-Revolution Psychedelic Rock From Iran". Now-Again. 15 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  21. Bekhrad, Joobin (17 July 2012). "Back from the Brink". Reorient. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  22. "بیوگرافی کوروش یغمایی، پدر راک ایران" (in Persian). Setare. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  23. "Biography". kourosh-yaghmaei.com (in Persian). Kourosh Yaghmaei. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  24. "کوروش یغمایی را چه کسی و چگونه کشت؟ +عکس". Boyer News (in Persian). 3 March 2013. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  25. Nabavi 2014, p. 207.
  26. زندگی, مجله اینترنتی برترین ها | پورتال خبری و سبک. "کوروش یغمایی؛ پدر موسیقی راک ایران" (in Persian). Bartarinha. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  27. تلکسیران, پایگاه خبری. "کوروش یغمایی؛ پدر موسیقی راک ایران – اخبار چهره ها". پایگاه خبری تلکسیران (in Persian). Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  28. "Kourosh Yaghmaei Mini Bio". Techrato (in Persian). 1995. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  29. "کوروش یغمایی؛ پدر موسیقی راک ایران". وبلاگ ایران 90 (in Persian). Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  30. Ajdamsani, Sahar (5 June 2019). "Kaveh Yaghmaei releases "Backpack" video". Rock Rage Radio. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  31. Hundley, Jessica (21 August 2011). "They rocked in Iran before the revolution". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  32. Admin. "Kourosh Yaghmaei – Gorghaye Gorosneh". nothaa.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  33. "Independent Lens". IMDb. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  34. Snapes, Laura (8 January 2019). "What The Bisexual's Desiree Akhavan Is Listening to Right Now". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  35. Setaro, Shawn (24 July 2018). "Did Kanye and Nas Steal a Beat and an Album Cover From This Producer? The Architect Finally Speaks". Complex. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  36. Bromwich, Jonah (18 June 2018). ""Adam and Eve" [ft. The-Dream]". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2020.

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