ohum - heavenly gift or devil's spawn?

in the last 10 years, there has been a slow but steady revolution happening in the arts and culture of iran. it is the truth that true art flourishes under oppression; where creativity under censorship reaches exceptional heights.

i will talk about the new cinema of iran later but here i would like to talk a little about the new music of iran. after the revolution in 1979, any form of music that would bring "happiness", those that might inspire the listener to feel like dancing (ghena) was banned. that meant, iranian pop music old and new and western music, classical or pop were banned. revolutionary songs and classical persian music were the only things there were allowed.

of course, noheh (mournful songs telling the stories of hardship and death of various martyrs and saints) and koranic verses were always encouraged. this censorship was particularly enforced during the 8 year war between iran and iraq in the 80s.

if you assume that in 1984 no one in iran knew about michael jackson's "thriller" or had not heard of madonna's "like a virgin" however, you are HUGELY mistaken! not only these two performers had a huge following in iran, boys and girls alike could do the most amazing moves of the latest "break-dance" videos, step by step. fashion was followed closely in private parties and latest songs were passed from hand to hand in not so great quality, treasured never-the-less.

now flash forward to 2003, the "moderate" khatami's second term reign and youth of iran enjoy freedoms un-heard-of in the last decade. still pressures of the chains are felt strongly and restrictions remain. every concert, either classical or pop needs to have a permission from the "ministry for promotion of Righteousness" (vezarate ershad) and women still can not sing solo in public, unless to an only female audience. although i like to mention that choir, both mixed and all female as well as accompaniment and back-up singing even in mixed groups are quite permissable. 

it is in this atmosphere that some of most radical and exciting pop music has emerged from iran. in terms of musical arrangements, performance and richness of lyrics they are quite superior to their tired, formula-based counter parts, created and exported out of los angeles, us (home to the second biggest concentration of iranians outside of iran).

after this loooong (and still going!) intro, i would like to bring to your attention a musical group that was formed in 1998 in tehran, iran and after a brief flirt with living in canada in 2002, the now one-person band is back in iran and working on its new album.

o-hum, with its unusual and mostly interesting music is a mixture of odd ingredients: heavy rock, meditative lyrics, "hafez"'s poetry, new-age and ultra-modern video. you might get the feeling that i am not their biggest fan and you are right. however, i can not help feeling impressed. their sound is so unique that they certainly have stayed with me ever since i first heard them back in 1999.

i leave the judgment to you. in my opinion one thing is clear, and that is they compete with the best of them for the number of fans they have and the originality of material they produce.

if you do decide to check out their website (available in both english and farsi), have a look at their latest video  (low quality version). i don't really think it matters much if you know what they are saying, stick around till the end and its worth it.