A Modern Take on Folk: Simorgh
When five young men who are a typical modern concoction of traditional Iranian values and MTV play music together what will it sound like?
Simorgh incorporate group chanting and a lyrical poetry that is folk-rap, accompanied by the evocative ney flute, tar strings and the empty bellow of the daf drum in their music, which is as far as our experience shows, at it’s optimum best when seen live.
Fari talks to the five members of the up and coming band ‘Simorgh’ about leaving university, playing football, parents, Bryan Adams and musical instruments as weapons of culture.
Simorgh are running workshops for the BBC on Iranian music and putting on their own concerts around London. With a name taken from a Sufi text, the band stand for something many of us can comprehend: what it’s like to be a cultural cocktail in London now.
This programme was originally broadcast from the Resonance104.4fm studios on July 21st 2008.
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