15.11.11 | Sohrab at Exotic Pylon's City Symphony, Berlin
On Tuesday November 15th, Sohrab will be appearing at Centrum, Berlin, as a participant in Jonny Mugwump's "City Symphony". Further details on the links, below.
jonnymugwump.com
pyloncitysymphony.wordpress.com
Press coverage of Sohrab
popkontext (Germany) has a feature here about Sohrab's appeal against deportation... and Taz here, which also mentions Amnesty International's interest in his situation...
Sohrab remix album | You Are Not Alone ll
Release date: 7th July 2011
320 kpbs - 1 track - 35:31
[Touch # Tone 42 DR2]
Photography: Sohrab
The second in a series of reworkings of Sohrab material by artists showing solidarity to his cause... all label and artist money goes towards the fund for his appeal against refusal to be granted political asylum in Germany...
Philip Marshall mix content providers:
Daniel Menche - Zarinn (menche mix) 11:45 | Jana Winderen - Susanna 7:00 | Philip Jeck - Susanna (remix) 5:23 | Philip Marshall - Somebody, Hidden 7:45 (Mastered by BJNilsen, Berlin, 20th May 2011) | Michael Esposito - Somebody's Ghost 6:47
This download-only release is now available from the TouchShop
Reinspired blog sums it up pretty well...
Sohrab remix album | You Are Not Alone l
Release date: 10th June 2011
320 kpbs - 1 track - 37:09
[Touch # Tone 42 DR1]
Photography: Jon Wozencroft
The first in a series of reworkings of Sohrab material by artists showing solidarity to his cause... all label and artist money goes towards the fund for his appeal against the refusal to be granted political asylum in Germany...
Touch mix content providers:
JG Thirlwell - Susanna (Uxorial mix) 4:48 | Achim Mohné - Milan Knizhak mix#1 (side a) 6:05 | Jóhann Jóhannsson - Zarrin (remix) 6:01 (Mixed by Jóhann Jóhannsson at NTOV, Copenhagen, 24th May 2011) | Anonymous - Triple Exposure 9:10 (Mastered by a different Anonymous 24th May 2011) | Leif Elggren - No One Really Knows (destroyed) 11:46
This download-only release is now available from the TouchShop
Reinspired blog sums it up pretty well...
Shouting at Dictators
'Faryad bar Dictator' 'فریاد بر دیکتاتور'
1 track - Download only - 8:56
Mastered by BJNilsen
As you may know, Sohrab managed to leave Iran late last year for Germany, where he appealed for political asylum having been interned in Brandenburg. This appeal has failed and he is trying to raise funds to appeal against this latest ruling.
If he fails, it is probable that Sohrab will be flown back to Iran and arrested at Tehran Airport... Europe is reassessing its policy to 'immigrants' on a daily basis, partly because of the rise of the political right, but also because of the influx of refugees from the 'arab spring'. The vast majority are being unceremoniously shipped back to their point of origin...
This release is a fund-raiser to help pay for a lawyer to help with his appeal against the ruling. 100% of Artist and Label money from this release will be donated directly to the appeal fund.
You can donate more if you wish simply by purchasing multiple copies of this release.
The protest was recorded in Tehran in the autumn of 2009.
On June 12, 2009 the Iranian presidential elections were held, and the results were strongly contested by the population. For the first time after the Islamic Revolution, Iranians expressed their dissent by organizing huge demonstrations against the regime. But the protest was not limited to demonstrations in public spaces; every night at 10 o'clock, citizens gathered on rooftops to continue their protests, chanting "Allah u Akbar" ("Allah is great"). At times, these chants would be interrupted by other, more indignant, chants of "Mag bar diktator" ("Death to the dictator"). During these protests, the dark Tehran nights were haunted by the ghost-like shadows and their eerie voices. Dreams, memories, emotions, and hopes roam around like ghosts on the rooftops of Teheran.
Susanna Neidermayr at ORF has broadcast a story about Sohrab which you can listen to for 7 more days (from 8th June 2011)
You can buy this in the TouchShop
Sohrab - A Hidden Place in Brainwashed
There is an obvious sense of isolation, both overt and implied, within this album. As a young composer in the culturally restricted country of Iran, the hushed textures and quiet moments feel forbidden, and therefore all the more attractive to hear. In addition, the quiet, meditative passages are occasionally broken up by sharp, loud outbursts that magnify sense of paranoia in listening to the proceedings.
Utilizing just field recordings, software, and live mixing, A Hidden Place is a dynamic album despite its sparse nature. "Susanna" hides grimy, treated percussive loops below time worn hums and reverberations, burying what would otherwise be boisterous sounds in blankets of quiet. The rhythms take on a flanged, aquatic character as icy melodies rise to the surface to become the focus.
"Somebody" also uses sparse, treated field recordings that sound as if they were collected in secret, with what sounds like distant prayer chants clearly setting the mood in which this was recorded. Voices appear, somewhat overtly, towards the middle of the piece, conveying a feeling of being questioned by some draconian authority. "Pedagogicheskaya Poema" demonstrates this at its most jarring, with subtle, simple sounds constructed into beautiful micromelodies, creating a hypnotic swell that is violently interrupted by a squealing blast of noise, making the implied tension overt.
Organ like bells open "Himmel Uber Tehran" above a rhythmic backdrop of reversed static bursts and clear, digital chimes that take command, once again providing a warm, inviting glow. This is snuffed in the title track as layers of oppressive, but brittle noise cover everything, with the occasional snapping or crackling outburst to be heard. Just as the noise retreats, yelled voices appear, again making the underlying tension tangible.
As the B side ends on "Zarrin," there is a sense of relief that the remaining treated and stretched melodies give. Under a layer of heavy vinyl surface noise, the melodies twist and curve into one another without any harsh outbursts. The pensive, melancholy tones sound like they’re coming off an old LP that has been passed around in secrecy for years.
I have always felt that conceptual music, or works created within a specific context, should function well in a vacuum…meaning that they should still be compelling without knowledge of where, when, or why they were created. A Hidden Place accomplishes that, as there is a lot of hushed beauty and frightening outbursts to be heard. Knowing the conditions in which Sohrab created this, it only adds to the power of this recording, making it fascinating on multiple levels. [Creaig Dunton ]
and
foxydigitalis (USA):
8/10
Utilizing what are now staples of electronic music (Reason 3, MIDI controller and sampler) Tehran-based Sohrab presents a slab of shifting, groove influenced, ambient soundscapes. The album A Hidden Place comfortably posits itself into the necromantic compositional field of pop influenced computer music.
Sound characteristics typify a vibe of isolation, yet don’t seem to yearn too much for company. The first piece “Susana” is the most danceable through the use of repetitive pulse in common time, yet there is no distinctive melody that would assimilate shaking hips. Instead the rhythm is mirrored through gurgling samples and shifting synth-scape material that sweeps through various filters in step with the pulse of the piece. Intensity rises through out the duration of the piece by rising volume of a swirling, ethereal chord which begins to modulate in 3rds and 5ths as the rhythm takes a back seat volumetricly, otherwise there is a serene stasis to the piece.
Each side of the record contains three pieces that blend rather seamlessly, which makes it difficult to differentiate between the tracks. This is of little concern however, as the overall movement and sonic images provided remain intact and complete.
Some pieces include more than the standard IDM palette, making the most of samples such as voices – both spoken and singing – as well as environmental sounds. My favorite would have to be the inclusion of a rooster crowing and clucking which, ostensibly remains unaltered against the electroacoustic tones carrying the piece.
A Hidden Place makes the most of the ambient genre while also pushing it forward by including rhythm and pulse driven pieces as well as incorporating vocal and environmental samples with deft taste in counterpoint to an otherwise bleak electronic album. Very soothing and thought-provoking indeed. [John Collins McCormick]
Sohrab on BBC Radio 3 Late Junction | 13th January 2011
Two tracks from Sohrab's new album 'A Hidden Place' (see below) are featured on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction. You can hear the show here.
Pioneering label of the year 2010
Lend Me Your Ears have named Touch as their "pioneering label of the year".
They write: "Touch - LMYE's pioneering label of the year: shepherding magnificent new releases by Philip Jeck & BJNilsen that were among the year's best anywhere is qualification enough for recognition. But Touch went further, bringing Sohrab's unmissable A Hidden Place, Daniel Menche's extraordinary Hover, early Hildur Gudnadottir goodness in the form of the Mount A re-release & further enhancing its Touch Radio series with 12 new instalments - including this Phill Niblock."
A Hidden Place - vinyl & download release
Sohrab - A Hidden Place
[Touch # Tone 42] - NOW AVAILABLE ON ITUNES
LP - 6 tracks - 40:20
+ free download: Aamookhtan Baraye Zistan (42:46) when you buy the vinyl from the TouchShop
Mastered by Denis Blackham
Cut by Jason @ Transition
Photography by Jon Wozencroft
Track Listing:
side one
Susanna (9:51)
Somebody (5:59)
Pedagogicheskaya Poema (3:28)
side two
Himmel Über Tehran (5:31)
A Hidden Place (9:27)
Zarrin (6:16)
Sohrab was born in Tehran in 1984. He was seven when the Iran-Iraq war ended. His name, from an old poem called 'Shahname', means 'rouge water', which can also mean 'blood'. He started a punk band with his brother and a friend, which lasted about two years before splitting. Sohrab is totally isolated in Iran, with little or no connection to what is happening there. Sohrab is, like so many, displaced within his own country and occupies a similar internal cultural isolation. This is suggested by Jon Wozencroft's imagery and artwork; looking in through shattered glass and an air of menace underneath the surface.
He recently performed live at Berghain for a Touch night, with Fennesz, Hildur Gudnadottir and others. It was his first legal gig since a performance by his punk band was broken up by the police in Tehran...
You can listen to his contribution to TouchRadio, "Tanhayi - Live in Tehran", recorded in October 2009
Sohrab used Reason 3, his midi controller (R)evolution UC-16 and a sampler, recorded live through Ambrosia recording software.
و چنان بی تابم، که دلم می خواهد
بدوم تا ته دشت، بروم تا سر کوه
دورها آوایی است، که مرا می خواند
so restless am i that i wish
to run to the end of the plain,
to top of the mountain
there is a voice in the distance,
that is calling me
(Sohrab Sepehri)
House on Water | Turkmen January 2009
The above photo was taken on a recent (2010) trip to Turkmen Sahra.
