VINTAGE MIDDLE EASTERN PSYCHEDELIC FUNK
***** SONGLINES 2021 BEST ARTIST AWARD WINNER *****
“The album is filled with electro-dance tracks that revive and remix a 1970s era remembered for a lively Iranian pop scene.” The Guardian
“a mix of bleeding-edge warped pop and traditional Persian instruments and melodies” FT ****
“Like a slash of pink lip gloss beneath a chador, a subtly transgressive stripe cuts through much of this second Farsi-language album from Israeli-Iranian singer Liraz … An irresistible folk memory of hot Persian nights, dancing till dawn.” Monocle
Singer, songwriter and actress Liraz Charhi has wowed crowds with her performances on stage and on screen. In her latest groundbreaking musical project Liraz combines modern sounds and beats with the ethnic flavours from her Persian roots.
Liraz’s family emigrated to Israel during the 1970’s at the brink of the Iranian Revolution. Liraz grew up in a Persian community in Israel, which preserved many of its traditions. However, a painful memory remains of a land that they would never be able to go back to. During one of her visits to Los Angeles, which is known for its large Persian expatriate community, aka ‘Tehrangeles’, Liraz was exposed to the new sounds and personal stories of singers such as the legendary Googoosh and the renowned Dariush, which inspired Liraz to revisit her own background. The inspiration from Persian culture and traditional Iranian music can be heard in her modern renditions.
In this project Liraz aims to express absent voices of Iran through the works of Iranian singers who are forbidden from singing in their homeland. Using the work of Iranian counter-revolutionary artists based outside of Iran along with the ability to sing in Persian, Liraz has managed to embody the lost voices of Iran.
