Iranian jazz

Iranian jazz refers to jazz music composed by Iranian musicians, occasionally influenced by Iranian classical music.

History

Early years

Jazz music emerged in Iran along with the development of pop music in the 1960s and 1970s.

Alfred Lazaryan, a 1960s Iranian singer and dancer, was one of the pioneers of jazz music in Iran. His first recorded song Venus, which was frequently broadcast by the Iranian national radio, was one of the very first jazz songs composed with Persian lyrics.

Viguen, Iran's "Sultan of Pop and Jazz Music", was a prominent singer of the 1960s and 1970s in Iran.

Viguen, a prominent singer of the same period, was known as "the Sultan of Jazz". He created some of the most memorable Iranian songs, including collaborations with Delkash.

After the 1979 Revolution

A music group named Ijaz was the first officially sanctioned jazz band to be formed in post-revolutionary Iran. They produced jazz fusion, with influences from Iranian classical music.

Rana Farhan, a popular Iranian jazz and blues singer living in New York, combines classic Persian poetry with modern jazz and blues. She has established a model to the jazz fusion project that she continues to incorporate in her work.

Bomrani, founded in 2008 by Behzad Omrani, is one of the first country blues bands formed in post-revolutionary Iran. They began with several experimental performances in cafes, and gradually developed with their theater music projects and performances at the City Theater of Tehran.

Pallett Band, established in 2009, is a successful Iranian band composing jazz fusion of clarinet, cello and double bass. Their album Mr. Violet achieved big success within the country in 2015. They have also performed in several European countries.

There are several other artists, inside and outside of the country, who have composed jazz music. Ziba Shirazi, an Iranian-American singer, poet and storyteller, sings jazz protest songs with mainly feminist concepts.

See also

• Music of Iran
• Persian pop music