Friday, July 4, 2008 
Meet Payam Bavafa, songwriter/guitarist in a San Francisco-based experimental rock band called Sholi. The band’s most recent EP, “Hejrat,” features an awesome cover of Googoosh’s song by the same name. We asked Bavafa, the group’s sole Iranian-American member, what Persian music means to him, and why he and his bandmates - drummer Jonathon Bafus, bassist […]
Filed under: MUSIC, NOSTALGIA
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Check out 127 (”saad o bist o haft”), a smart band out of Tehran that takes Iranian scales, adds a trombone, a dash of jazz, and a pinch of punk, then stirs it all together with sharp lyrics to make some delicious, delicious music. Think a cross between the Decemberists and Nellie McKay, but speed […]
Filed under: MUSIC, VIDEOS
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As promised, my review/post about Kiosk is up now, on LAist.com. Please leave comments, pass it along, etc.!
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Filed under: MUSIC
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I’m writing a review of the show for another site and will link it here when it’s up… unfortunately, their sound check meant I could only squeeze in an interview with Babak Khiavchi before I had to run off to Mehregan down the street (more on that soon, too)… so Babak Khiavchi is now my […]
Filed under: EVENTS, MUSIC
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I’m sort of intimidated by Ardeshir Farah (weell, all these guys but him most of all…) but he’s a little more accessible after seeing him dance along to continued of “Afsoos” - this time with a female backing vocalist, not the same one as their last shows as far as I can tell, but she […]
So how long have you been with the band?
Seventeen years, since the beginning.
Wow, you don’t look that old.
I’m eighteen years old.
So you’re all child prodigies. Why is the band’s name Kiosk?
This goes back to 17 years ago… we would get together and experiment with different musical ideas. Because of the restrictions in Iran, we couldn’t […]
Filed under: EVENTS, INTERVIEWS, MUSIC
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Kiosk improv means the bass line from Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” with Iranian-style keyboard and guitar flourishes… and it works!
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Filed under: EVENTS, MUSIC
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