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Hypernova Opens up About Iran's Underground Scene (Part 2 of 2)

This is part two of an interview with the lead vocalist of Hypernova; part one appeared on Aslan Media on September 19th.

During a pit stop into Denver on their way to California for performances in San Francisco, Aslan Media contributor Safa Samiezade-Yazd had the chance to chat with Hypernova and hear in their own words how four years after arriving in the U.S., now based in Brooklyn, the band still thrives, eager for the shift it’s made from “illegal indie-rock” to emerging musical talent, that also happens to be Iranian.

Aslan Media: What are your musical influences, both Western and Iranian?

Hypernova’s Raam: Western, I grew up listening to a lot of classical music, actually. I still do- I'm an avid classical music listener. The first rock thing I ever bought was a Queen record, and I became fascinated and [fell] in love with Freddie Mercury. I just think he is the most amazing and ultimate performer that's ever lived. I remember we used to get these bootleg CDs and videotapes of their performances. Just seeing him perform and how people would sing back their songs. I thought, how cool would it be if I could perform in front of 100,000 people and they could sing a song back to me.

Interview with Turkish Musician Ömer Faruk Tekbilek

In this Aslan Media exclusive interview, contributor Flying Dutchslim sat down with flautist Ömer Faruk Tekbilek to discuss his music, inspiration, and Turkish roots. Born in 1951, Tekbilek is known for his performances on the ney, an ancient Middle Eastern cane flute. He also plays the Oud, Saz, Zurna and sings on many of his recordings.

Tekbilek is the recipient of the 2003 "Best Artist” award from the Turkish Writers Association and was a nominee for the 2003 BBC World Music Award in the Middle East category. He has become a beloved icon in Turkey, connecting his many fans with historical and religious influences that were once suppressed.

Aslan Media: How did you start playing music?

Ömer Faruk: I was born in southern Turkey, Adana. At 11 years old, I started playing the Baglama [long neck lute-like instrument] and the Kaval [Turkish flute]. Then, I lived in Istanbul for 10 years where I worked as as a studio musician. I also worked with many singers before I moved to the United States in 1976. In 1988, I met Brian Keane and since then, we recorded 9 albums together.

Hypernova Opens up About Iran's Underground Scene (Part 1 of 2)

After seven years of playing in the shadows of Tehran, post-punk/new wave band Hypernova first appeared on the American music scene in 2007 as a human interest story. “A rock band from a country that arrests rock bands,” ran an MTV headline about the group, which was also featured in NPR, The New York Times, Wired, Planet Green and Playboy.

Vocalist Raam, guitarist Kodi, drummer Kami, and bassist Jam found themselves featured in the press more for where they were from than for their music.

Yet beneath the hype of punk rockers in exile has always been a serious band, as disciplined and committed to their craft and music as they are to giving a voice to the voiceless back home in Iran. Four years after arriving in the U.S., the now Brooklyn-based band is thriving, eager to make the transition from “illegal indie-rock” band in Iran to emerging global superstars.

Heavy Metal Kabul

Last year’s Taliban-fighting weapon is about to become this year’s youth explosion: Heavy Metal. This music is apparently so hated by the Taliban that U.S. forces began blasting it to disarm fighters, who needed to put down their weapons to cover their ears. Deemed “trashy Western music” by many Afghans, the genre is about to get a face lift this fall with hopes that “crowds of Afghans [will be] head-banging and moshing in the streets.”

“Musicians and youth in the region are more empowered than ever before,” wrote HELO Magazine, a co-producer of the Sound Central Festival, Afghanistan’s first Rock music festival. Spanning the course of September and October, the event is one that will build solidarity and promote peace, through the aggressive lyrics and musicality of Heavy Metal and other genres of Rock.

Headlining the festival’s main event will be three Afghan bands: D.U., White Page, and Kabul Dreams. Although the bands are now based in Kabul, members of all three spent most of their lives away from Afghanistan as refugees during the Taliban era. “We have our own feelings,” said the lead singer from D.U., Afghanistan’s first heavy metal band, “We have got aggression, depression and we need to speak out for each and every Afghan youngster who needs to speak.” Their absence, and now return, hugely influence their music and how they use it to confront the Taliban’s repression of Afghan culture.

Shusmo Strikes a Chord with Alternative Arabic Music

What do you call music that refuses to define itself? Anything. Or nothing. That’s just how the New York-based band Shusmo likes it.

Named after the Arabic phrase for “whatchamacallit,” the quintet, formed in 2000 by Palestinian-born Tareq Abboushi, breaks the boundaries between both Western and Arab music with one aim – to define a new genre of Arabic music “that winds past all the barriers dividing Arabic maqam from down-and-dirty funk, Latin spark, and swinging jazz.”

With the recent release of their sophomore album Mumtastic, the influences of both cultures, from Arabic tunes to Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, are not only clear, but seamless. “What I’m working towards is an alternative Arabic music,” Abboushi explained in the band’s recent press release. “Now, you’re either sitting listening to classical music or you’re dancing to pop in a club. And there’s too little in between. We need something that works like Stevie Wonder that has soul and musicality and that you can also move to.”

"If I Could Change" Video Premiere

Salman Ahmad lead guitarist of one of the world's biggest rock and roll bands Junoon offers AslanMedia followers a sneak peak of newest music video "If I Could Change" with Ziggy Marley and the Somali sister duo Sweetrush, featuring Christina Aguilera, David Beckham and more. The song supports the efforts of World Humanitarian Day and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

'If I Could Change the World" Video

*Photo Credit: Wikipedia