Mazgani

Mazgani
Origin	Setúbal, Portugal
Genres	Alternative Indie rock
Years active	2004–present
Website	Official artist site.
Members
Shahryar Mazgani Sérgio Mendes Victor Coimbra Pedro Goncalves
Past members
Alain Anastácio João Fernandez Marco Franco
Notable instruments
acoustic guitar electrical guitar Double Bass drums

Mazgani is an Iranian-Portuguese singer-songwriter who started playing in Setúbal in the summer of 2004. Shahryar Mazgani's family had left Iran after the Iranian Revolution.

In 2006, Mazgani was considered by the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles as one of the best 20 new European artists. His debut album, Song of the New Heart, released in 2007, contains 13 songs sung in English.

In 2009, netlabel OptimusDiscos¹ in Portugal released the Tell the People EP, produced by Pedro Gonçalves of Dead Combo. Also in 2009, Mazgani came third in the International Songwriting Competition, AAA category, with the song "Somewhere Beneath This Sky"³; the competition judges included Tom Waits, Robert Smith, and other alternative music notables.

At the end of 2009, he released his first international disc, Ladies and Gentlemen introducing Mazgani, through the Fading Ways Finland record label². It was released for the BeNeLux and Scandinavian markets. The record is also available digitally worldwide via Finetunes.

In January 2010, Mazgani performed at the Eurosonic festival in the Netherlands, after also playing the Super Bock em Stock festival in Lisbon the month before. He also performed at Europavox 2010 in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

His second full-length album, Song of Distance, was released in Portugal in April 2010 and that release was followed by a digital UK release via AWAL in October. It was produced by Dead Combo's Pedro V. Goncalves and Helder Nelson. The record hit no. 17 on the Portuguese charts.

Members

For 2008 self-produced debut album, Mazgani's band members were:

• Shahryar Mazgani (vocalist and acoustic guitar)
• Sérgio Mendes (electrical guitar)
• Victor Coimbra (bass)
• Rui Luís (drums)

In 2009, and with the rest of the band in 2010, Pedro Gonçalves of Dead combo accompanied Mazgani live as well as producing the Tell the People EP.

By 2011, the line-up is as follows:

• Shahryar Mazgani (vocalist and acoustic guitar)
• Sérgio Mendes (electrical guitar)
• Victor Coimbra (bass)
• Joao Vitor (drums)

Influences

Mazgani has mentioned, in interviews or press releases, the following musical influences:

• Leonard Cohen
• Nick Cave
• Tom Waits
• Woven Hand

Discography

Albums

• Song of the New Heart (Independent, 2007)
• Song Of Distance(Vachier, 2010)

EPs

• Tell The People (Optimus Discos, 2009)
• Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Mazgani (Fading Ways, 2009)
• Mercy (live promo EP, Tell the People, 2011)

Sources

• Official artist site
• Portuguese Netlabel
• International label
• ISC website
• Portuguese Agency
• Dutch Agency

External links

• Official page of the band (English)
• Mazgani on LastFM
• Mazgani in MySpace
• Mazgani on life at Antena 3 (in portuguese)