Mohsen Namjoo

محسن نامجو Mohsen Namjoo
Background information
Born	1976 (age 34–35) Torbat-e Jam, Iran
Genres	Persian traditional music Iranian folk music Iranian rock Acoustic
Occupations	Songwriter Setar player Singer
Instruments	Setar Guitar
Years active	1993-present
Website	mohsennamjoo.com
Notable instruments
Setar

Mohsen Namjoo, (Persian: محسن نامجو), is an Iranian musician, singer-songwriter. born in 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town in northeastern Iran. The New York Times called Namjoo "Iran's Bob Dylan".^[1]

Career

Namjoo was born in Iran in a Muslim family. When he was one year old, his family moved to Mashhad where he lived until the age of 18. His father, Mohammad Hossein Namjoo, died when he was 12. His family encouraged him to start attending music classes in classical Persian vocal music.

In 1994 he studied Music at University of Tehran in addition to taking some theater classes. In 1997, Namjoo quit the music program explaining that he had some conflicts with some faculty in the music department because they wanted to put him through more years of traditional Iranian music practice which were the repetition of what he had already learned in the earlier years of his life. Namjoo also studied Iranian folk music. He is also familiar with Western musical styles, particularly blues and rock.

In late 1997 and early 1998, Namjoo had his first two concerts, themed "modern combination of Iranian poetry and music".^[2] In 2003 he started recording parts of his own works in Tehran. His debut album titled Toranj was officially released in Iran in September 2007. He also composed soundtracks for movies and plays.

He was featured in the documentary Sounds of Silence (directed by Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz] which has been screened at international film festivals. He also appeared in a feature narrative film called Few Kilograms of Dates for the Funeral (Director Saman Saloor), played in various film festivals.

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 courts. The conviction took place in spite of his formal apology.^[3][4][5] After establishing in the West, he sang this song in his Oy album as a single.

Namjoo's first performance outside Iran was in January 2006 at the Tehran Hotspot of the International Rotterdam Film Festival where he played solo.^{[citation needed]}. Mohsen Namjoo performed his first live TV concert on the Persian News Network of Voice of America for the Norouz event for the celebration of Persian new year on Saturday, March 20, 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Namjoo kicked off his "A Minor" tour with a new band ensemble centered around some of his most popular and courageous songs. In June they performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California (US).^{[citation needed]} In October they performed at the Sony Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mohsen Namjoo also released a single titled "Such Strange Times" in June, a song sung in English.

He also writes poetry, and sometimes uses his own satirical lyrics in his songs blended with the classical poetry of Hafez, Rumi or Saadi. His music and words are very emotional and, in his works, he creates a fusion of various styles from traditional Iranian to blues and rock.

Discography

Studio albums

• Toranj (September 2007)
• Jabr-e Joghrafiyaei (2008)
• Oy (October 2009)
• Useless Kisses (February 2011)

Singles

• Strange Times (2010)

Audiobooks

• The Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho), produced by Caravan (publishing), 2008

See also

• Rock and alternative music in Iran
• Persian traditional music
• Music of Iran

References

1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/world/middleeast/01namjoo.html
2. ^ http://www.mohsennamjoo.com/
3. ^ http://www.musicema.com/module-pagesetter-viewpub-tid-1-pid-811.html
4. ^ http://www.internationalfreepresssociety.org/2009/07/iran-mohsen-namjoo-convicted-for-unconventional-singing/
5. ^ http://www.magiran.com/npview.asp?ID=1685697

External links

• Mohsen Namjoo's Official Website
• Video : Mohsen Namjoo - Ey saraban Song
• namjooo fans mailing list at Yahoo Groups
• http://www.bugler.blogfa.com/post-52.aspx, Namjoo talks about Copyright in Iran
• http://kosoof.com/archive/360.php, some photos from World AIDS Day 2004, Tehran
• http://www.iranican.com/blog/?p=177, interview with Iranican September, 2008
• Leaked Song Causes Conviction of “Iranian Bob Dylan”
• Zolf bar bād madeh ... (Don't let the breeze blow through your lock of hair ...), a song by Mohsen Namjoo based on a lyric poem by Hafez: YouTube (6 min 35 sec). Hafez's pertinent lyric poem can be consulted here.
• Ey Sārebān Kojā Miravi? (O Camel-Driver, Where Are You Going?), YouTube (5 min 11 Sec).
• Mohsen Namjoo's Discography on IranSong
• http://www.wordpatch.com/2010/01/oy-mohsen-namjoo-feat.html Review of "OY" Album in Persian and English.

Persondata
Name	Namjoo, Mohsen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1976
Place of birth	Torbat-e Jam, Iran
Date of death
Place of death