Oy (album)

Oy
Studio album by Mohsen Namjoo
Released	6 October 2009
Genre	Lo-Fi , Indie , Alternative Rock, Iranian traditional music
Length	56:21
Label	Stradivarius
Producer	Fabrica
Mohsen Namjoo chronology
Jabr-e Joghrafiyaei (2008) Oy (2009) Strange Times (2010)

Oy is the third studio album by the Iranian singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo after Toranj and Jabr-e Joghrafiyaei. Released on 6 October 2009^[1] this was Namjoo's first^[2][3] album produced and published outside Iran.^[2]

This also was the first collaboration between Namjoo and Golshifteh Farahani in which Golshifteh plays piano and also sings in some parts.^[4][5] In addition to drums, piano and accordion other Iranian musical instruments including setar and Tonbak are played within the album.

Two Concerts were held in Italy, one in Venice on September 11 and the other in Milan on October 8 and songs of Oy album were performed with Italian instrumentalists and Golshifteh Farahani playing the piano. Both concerts were free of charge and served as a promotion for the album.^[6][7][8]

Production

After leaving Iran and nearly one year living in Vienna he moved to Venice. There he got acquainted with Babak Payami , the art director^[9] of film and video section^[10][11] in Fabrica institute , a subset of Benetton Group.^[12] Both concerts and the album production was accomplished by the Fabrica.

"I got this chance to be acquainted with Mohsen Namjoo, a special artist above all .I think Namjoo both has made many innovations in the Persian music world and in the literature of the music and the poems. "

Babak Payami, bbc.co.uk ^[2]

Track listing

1. "Hammash" - 5:16
2. "Shams" - 5:51
3. "Dela Didi" - 7:41
4. "Qashqai" - 5:55
5. "Binazir" - 8:00
6. "Khan Baji" - 7:44
7. "Cielito Lindo" - 7:36
8. "Gladiators (Faghih Khoshgele)" - 8:18

Quran sura singing controversy

In 2006 he was sentenced in absentia to a five-year jail term for allegedly ridiculing the ash-Shams,a sura of Quran in the song named "Shams" by Iranian judicial system. The conviction took place in spite of his formal apology. Later Namjoo claimed that he will perform an orchestral version of this song in Venice.^[13][14][15] He also sang this song in Oy album as a single.

Trivia

Mohsen Namjoo's songs has always had many controversies inside Iranian society because of many uncommon and taboo use of Persian vocabulary and also a kind of frank satirical look into the society

• In final section of the first track "Hammash", parts of Cher's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) are sung by Namjoo in an Iranian traditional music style.
• "Dela Didi" is based on the poem "Yadegar-e Khoon-e Sarv" by Hushang Ebtehaj.
• "Khan Baji" is a Kurdish song and Hesen Zîrek already had song it.^[16]
• "Binazir" is a poetic, detailed account of the sexual intercourse between two people and contains sexually explicit material and references which are complete erotic taboo in Iran.
• "Qashqai" is based on the poem "Afsaneh" by Nima Yushij.1
• "Cielito Lindo" which is a popular traditional song of Mexico, written in 1882 by Quirino Mendoza y Cortés is performed by Namjoo and within it some verses of Molana and Shamloo are sung too.
• The prelude of "Gladiators" is the poem "Faghih Khoshgele" (Pretty Faqih) by Namjoo which is a satirical praise of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. Some parts of another sura of Quran is recited here again. The mentioned sura is At-Takathur.

References

1. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Oy/dp/B002RDRT98
2. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/09/090926_maf_iran_italia_mohsen_namjoo.shtml
3. ^ http://farhanggoftego.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=228:2009-09-28-23-15-59&catid=38:2009-08-25-00-31-19&Itemid=37
4. ^ http://mohsen-namjo.blogfa.com/post-56.aspx
5. ^ Iranmusicnews.com
6. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/interactivity/2009/09/090914_userphoto_namjoo_golshifteh.shtml
7. ^ http://www.iranian.com/main/2009/oct/mohsen-namjoo
8. ^ http://www.ebtekarnews.com/Ebtekar/News.aspx?NID=56751
9. ^ http://www.fabrica.it/press-release/colors-crosses-the-atlantic
10. ^ http://www.hammihannews.com/news/6611
11. ^ http://www1.voanews.com/persian/news/a-31-2009-09-29-voa19-63607937.html
12. ^ http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f8_Beneton_Payami/439071.html
13. ^ http://www.musicema.com/module-pagesetter-viewpub-tid-1-pid-811.html
14. ^ http://www.internationalfreepresssociety.org/2009/07/iran-mohsen-namjoo-convicted-for-unconventional-singing/
15. ^ http://www.magiran.com/npview.asp?ID=1685697
16. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wmrwv1x3t4

External links

• Listen to the album in iranising.com
• Read the Review in Persian and English in wordpatch.com