Searching for Iran’s lost funk

October 11, 2012 8:52 AM

"...it should be made clear that Tehran in the ’70s was not an equivalent to New Orleans, Chicago or Detroit. There was no funk haven per se, but within the Iranian pop world some tracks did appear, and those records are a rare treasure trove for funk aficionados." — Searching for Iran’s lost funk

The CBC article coincides with the launch of Gian Gomeshi's biography 1982 about a UK boy of Iranian descent fixated on glam living in a tawny Toronto suburb and consolidates tracks from Secret Stash's Persian Funk collection, which contains a bunch more videos.

posted by furtive (7 comments total)

Shoot, that got posted before I was ready, I wanted to put something better for the 1982 link, but I think it'll still stand up on it's own. Enjoy!
posted by furtive at 8:54 AM on October 11, 2012

Also, the Respect track is a bit dubious, Abbas Mehrpouya's Ghabile Leyli is ten times better.
posted by furtive at 8:56 AM on October 11, 2012

The "Soul Raga" track (3rd link) is killer. Thanks for posting this.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 9:53 AM on October 11, 2012

ms scruss once had an Afghani-born adult ESL student who was in an Irania hotel house band in the 70s. He could still remember the songs he learned to cover phonetically, and apparently broke into a spirited version of "That's the Way (I Like It)" in the middle of class.
posted by scruss at 10:27 AM on October 11, 2012

This music certainly elevates Mahmoud.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:30 AM on October 11, 2012

I have consulted with my Persian friend. He suggests that the man at 1:58 is currently in possession of the funk.
posted by jpziller at 11:30 PM on October 11, 2012

the man at 1:58

I had wondered what Gallager was up to these days, but seriously, the Farsi Funk wasn't lost in the revolution. Just like the rest of the world's funk, it just moved, to Tehrangeles and started hanging out in douchey clubs.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:54 AM on October 12, 2012