Motown in Teheran

June 15, 2006 12:41 PM

Googoosh! In the 70s, there was a pop star in (pre-revolutionary) Iran named Googoosh. She recorded a handful of covers of Motown songs, and lots of Farsi pop that fuses Motown and Persian music. Check it out if you like world music and Motown. There are lo-fi MP3s under the link above, and there are CDs:Best of Googoosh, Vol. 4: Doe Panjereh. She performed in the US in 2000, after a 20-year hiatus, in LA and DC. The concert in DC was something else, both audience and performance.
posted by lw (8 comments total)

Mahir Cagri went to Iran once... wonder if he kissed her.
posted by AspectRatio at 1:29 PM on June 15, 2006

Smoosh!
posted by emelenjr at 2:47 PM on June 15, 2006

Haha! What an uncanny coincidence! "Googoosh" is the noise I make during my morning bowel movement.
posted by antifreez_ at 3:35 PM on June 15, 2006

Never heard of her before yesterday when I came across an article in the washington post about Radio Farda (linked to a site that doesn't require registration) - winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis with vacuous pop, apparently.

I'd call it an uncanny coincidence, but antifreez ruined that phrase for me.
posted by selfmedicating at 6:38 PM on June 15, 2006

AspectRadio, that Mahir Cagri guy is so Borat.
posted by nickyskye at 11:51 PM on June 15, 2006

You know, this is a pretty sucky post, but Googoosh is actually a great singer. I saw her in concert during her first tour after leaving Iran.
Here's her official site (warning: embedded music), and here's the obligatory wikipedia entry. Her importance to the Iranian expatriot community and her contribution to Iranian music cannot be overstated.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 1:52 AM on June 16, 2006

Are there any of those MP3 files in the main link that folks would particularly recommend? I find the sheer volume a bit intimidating, and am not sure where to start.

I like her cover of In The Midnight Hour (MP3 link), despite the poor recording quality. It sounds both familiar and strange.
posted by yankeefog at 6:50 AM on June 16, 2006

Do panjereh, katibeh, hamsafar are all nice.

Try her last.fm page for more.
posted by lw at 7:59 AM on June 16, 2006