“Kiosk”, is the first Iranian underground rock band outside of Iran.
This band is well-known for its biting critical, social and political, but humorous lyrics accompanied by rock music.
The lyrics and music are all written by “Arash Sobhani”, the lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, based on his personal experiences and his sociopolitical observations.
With the release of their third album, “Global Zoo”, KIOSK, has been launching their North American “Global Zoo” tour, and San Francisco was one of their stops.
The San Francisco concert was held at the “Mezzanine” club, on Friday, Nov.18.
The tickets were sold for $35 and there were also $55 tickets for the people who wanted to get access to the VIP lounge.
“Mezzanine” was big enough to contribute an adequate dancing space for almost 300 people. The high rise ceiling also offered the full amount of fresh air.
The club’s artistic lighting and its strong sound systems also made the place very articulate.
There was a bar close to the entrance that was surrounded by the people who were ordering drinks.
The VIP lounge was located at a corner of the main salon, several steps higher than the ground level and far from the stage. It also didn’t have any dancing space.
There were just some chairs at each corner of the VIP lounge, but the chairs were all at the blind spots, so if some one was seated, she or he wasn’t able to see any part of the stage.
Certainly, it was very disappointing to the VIP audience, who paid more for their tickets and most of them ended up coming down to the main salon, in order to order drinks, watch the band and dance with the music.
The show time was scheduled for 8:30 p.m. but the band showed up around 10 p.m. Therefore, the audience was already drunk and ready to mingle by the time the band showed up on the stage, I would say.
But there is something I need to point out, that being late is such a common behavior among Iranians, especially the artists, so no one in the crowd was upset or surprised, because of the two hours delay in the start up. Even some people, like us predicted this delay before hand, so we showed up for the concert around 9 p.m.
By the time the band came on the stage, they started their performance rightaway without any introductions, so during the first five minutes of the show, we were not really sure if that band was “Kiosk” or some local band that is just there to entertain the expecting audience and kill the time, or maybe this false asumption was just the effect of alcohol running in our blood!
The “Kiosk” performed the new album, “Global Zoo” including nine songs on that night, which are the following:
1- Ay Ay 1
2- Sirabi e Naft
3- Pragmatism e Eshghi
4- Agha! Nigah Dar
5- Kafsh
6- Livanha,Botriha,Galonha
7- Gerogangiri Dar Bagh e Vahsh
8- Chahrkesh e Pooch
9- Yarom Bia
Sobhani’s voice was very pleasant and comprehensible.
The lyrics were all social commentaries on a wide variety of issues affecting the daily lives of Iranians all over the world, that is why everyone could some how relate herself or himself to the songs.
The guitar player, Babak Khiavchi, and the drummer, Shahrouz Molaei, were also playing a great role in making the performance pleasant with their versatile playing instruments.
The volume of the music instruments were in harmony with the volume of Sobhani’s voice, so both the songs and the music were absolutely decipherable.
The casual lyrics in Sobhani’s conversational songs and also the unity between the performers and their instruments, created an affectionate era, full of energy and joy.
When the show ended, the cheerful audience applauded the band and asks for more songs, so the band performed the first song, Ay Ay, one more time; repeating one song of the album at the end of the show, as the audience demands, is also a common routine in each Iranian concert.
Audience was fully satisfied with the “Kiosk” performance. I could tell that by catching the smiles left on many faces when they were exiting the club.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
“Arash” Concert Review
Not everything, and different or out of ordinary is interesting; as a matter of fact, some innovations would be anything but interesting!
“Arash,” is what I would consider as a phony innovation.
“Arash,” is a new Swedish band with a male Iranian lead singer named “Arash” which had its first north Californian concert at the “Avalon” club in San José, on Friday, Nov. 21.
Unfortunately, everything about this event, from the very beginning part, to the ending, was a bogus indication.
The band’s music style was an unharmonious mixture of Rock, Pop, folk and the lyrics of more than a few songs, such as “Boro,” “Naro,” “Dasa Bala” and “Tike,” was an array of rubbish Iranian expressions.
The worst part of all was the fact that everything we were hearing during the performance was coming right through a record player and the band members were just bunch of amateurs, who were acting as if they were playing instruments or singing on the stage; they were performing a fake live show, right in front of our eyes!
Couple of incidents confirmed the live “Arash” performance was a fake:
First of all, during the entire performance, I could hear the flute playing, but there wasn’t any flute player on the stage.
“How embarrassing! If they had recited their performance, just once, before the show, they’d figure out, that they should have some one out there, as a flute player?” said Habib, an audience.
And the second fact was the female Swedish singer, “Rebecca,” who was inexpertly reciting in ‘Farsi.’
In the meantime, she left her microphone on the stand and started dancing on the stage and, but we could still hear her singing throughout the record player!
The hardly tolerable high volume of the show was also an unwelcoming matter for the audience.
There was only one thing that kept me standing still till the end of the show, and that was the unintentional ridicule, presented in this performance.
All I was waiting for was another hilarious incident, on the stage and apparently, I didn’t have to wait long for that moment to come along.
Since all the band members were are Swedish excluding one, so they didn’t understand the meaning of the lyrics they were singing together, so as they were all singing a gloomy, restrained song, the band, started jumping up and down, as if they were reciting a harsh rock song.
I should also mention that, before the show started, the security guards purposely wouldn’t let the people who had come to see the show, inside the club, in order to make a big line out there to create a center of attention in the neighborhood.
So even though, we’d purchased our tickets beforehand, we still had to stay in that huge line, for about one hour.
The bartenders, were also working deceitfully, in their own way; the common bar rule “first come, first serve,” Was not applying back there, so it took us almost half an hour to get our first drink, even though we were in the first row, right in front of the bartender.
“What else could possibly go wrong in a performance?”
“Arash,” was an actual thumbs-down!
“Arash,” is what I would consider as a phony innovation.
“Arash,” is a new Swedish band with a male Iranian lead singer named “Arash” which had its first north Californian concert at the “Avalon” club in San José, on Friday, Nov. 21.
Unfortunately, everything about this event, from the very beginning part, to the ending, was a bogus indication.
The band’s music style was an unharmonious mixture of Rock, Pop, folk and the lyrics of more than a few songs, such as “Boro,” “Naro,” “Dasa Bala” and “Tike,” was an array of rubbish Iranian expressions.
The worst part of all was the fact that everything we were hearing during the performance was coming right through a record player and the band members were just bunch of amateurs, who were acting as if they were playing instruments or singing on the stage; they were performing a fake live show, right in front of our eyes!
Couple of incidents confirmed the live “Arash” performance was a fake:
First of all, during the entire performance, I could hear the flute playing, but there wasn’t any flute player on the stage.
“How embarrassing! If they had recited their performance, just once, before the show, they’d figure out, that they should have some one out there, as a flute player?” said Habib, an audience.
And the second fact was the female Swedish singer, “Rebecca,” who was inexpertly reciting in ‘Farsi.’
In the meantime, she left her microphone on the stand and started dancing on the stage and, but we could still hear her singing throughout the record player!
The hardly tolerable high volume of the show was also an unwelcoming matter for the audience.
There was only one thing that kept me standing still till the end of the show, and that was the unintentional ridicule, presented in this performance.
All I was waiting for was another hilarious incident, on the stage and apparently, I didn’t have to wait long for that moment to come along.
Since all the band members were are Swedish excluding one, so they didn’t understand the meaning of the lyrics they were singing together, so as they were all singing a gloomy, restrained song, the band, started jumping up and down, as if they were reciting a harsh rock song.
I should also mention that, before the show started, the security guards purposely wouldn’t let the people who had come to see the show, inside the club, in order to make a big line out there to create a center of attention in the neighborhood.
So even though, we’d purchased our tickets beforehand, we still had to stay in that huge line, for about one hour.
The bartenders, were also working deceitfully, in their own way; the common bar rule “first come, first serve,” Was not applying back there, so it took us almost half an hour to get our first drink, even though we were in the first row, right in front of the bartender.
“What else could possibly go wrong in a performance?”
“Arash,” was an actual thumbs-down!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Setareh Delzendeh
Besides being one of the most acclaimed Canadian-Iranian artists in Canada, Setareh Delzendeh is a down to earth; warm hearted and extraordinary human being.
The first time I met her, I wouldn’t have guessed that she is famous, if I didn’t read about her background, because of her earthy and warm character.
She is about 5.6foot tall with deep green eyes, white skin, and long curly hair. She colors some parts of her hair pink, blue, green and her own natural color is olive and she dresses up in such a strange, hip fashion.
She also has a poetic and spiritual character.
During my seven years of our friendship, I never saw her face without a smile.
Her enduring smile, exotic look, unusual clothes and her gentle speaking make her an unforgettable individual.
Setareh Delzendeh was born in July 11, 1979 in Tehran, Iran. She got her bachelor degree in Theatre Set & Costume Design from Azad University in Tehran, Iran.
She worked as a set designer for several Iranian movies including “Protest” by well-known Iranian film director Masoud kimiaei.
“I was fortunate to do that project. In my interview with the director, he asked me if I want to play the main role in the movie, I answered no, I told him that my passion is set designing, not acting. “I like the work behind the camera.” I said. The director was surprised; he told me that I am the first person whom answered no to his offer for acting in his movies.
He told me that he admires my passion and because of that he will give me the set designing job even though you are I wasn’t experienced enough.”
“After then I started getting serious job offers.” said Delzendeh.
Delzendeh directed a short film, “I have become,” based on Peter Handke's Self Accusation piece.
“I had a very low budget to make that movie, that’s why I asked my close friend, Pantea Panahiha, actress to play the main role and I did the rest of the job all by myself. It was a good experience.” said Setareh Delzendeh.
In 2002, she edited a documentary movie; “Non-Stop” by Afshin Liaghat. The movie won the “Audience Prize” in Milan film festival.
In 2003, she immigrated to Toronto, Canada and shortly after, she started working with well-known theatre directors and designers, such as Soheil Parsa and Astrid Janson.
“I was so afraid of my failure in a foreign country. It is very hard to get in to the art industry when English is your second language. At first, People didn’t take me seriously because I had a different accent, but I eventually proved otherwise.” Said Delzendeh
She designed set and customs for dance projects such as York university graduation shows, Fida and Meftahi dance performance in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
She also designed set, costume and lighting for several Iranian shows in Toronto, such as Bam Relief concert in Toronto Art center.
In 2004 to 2005 she worked as Astrid Janson’s assistant, the famous set designer, on an opera composed by Puccini, Lescaut which was performed in Russia.
In 2005, she worked as director assistant with Soheil Parsa, the Artistic Director of Modern Times Stage Company on “Macbeth.”
She also was a set designer and custom designer of “Fish Eyes,” written and performed by Anita Majumdar, “Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii,” directed by Sandy Macdonald.
In 2006, Setareh was awarded with the “Theatre Ontario Professional Training Grant.” To be Astrid Janson’s assistant on “Home child,” directed by Martha Henry in can stage and Rigoletto composed by Verdi and directed by Tom Diamond
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