Jazz has played a marginal and yet significant role in Iran’s music history. The perception of the genre, however, has been in flux since it first arrived in the country: It's commonly believed that the history of Jazz in Iran began during the 1960s with the likes of Duke Ellington visiting and performing in the country. But earlier compositional principles of jazz and big band music were increasingly traced in the music of the 1950s. As Iran's oil industry was ‘booming’, Iranian musicians’ relationship with jazz music moreover further intensified through the presence of American expat clubs in oil-rich areas where jazz was played throughout the 1960s. Jazz is undeniably linked to the country's relations with the United States, intersected by a colonial dynamic and notions of 'modernization', but also with visions of freedom, sociability through collaboration, and the identification of oppressed people internationally. The primetime TV show on (improv) Jazz 'Kourosh Ali Khan va Dustan' (available on youtube) on Iranian national television in the 1970s, was an initiative of the American musician and ethnomusicologist Lloyd Miller - also known as Kourosh Ali Khan. Miller's show contributed to the confluence of Iranian music culture and jazz as he worked in Tehran for seven consecutive years, studying classical Persian music. By the early 1970s, the principles of jazz music were commonly integrated in pop music of the time, popularized through the repertoire of iconic and master female vocalists such as Elaheh, Googoosh and Giti. The musical confluence of jazz (and related music) with popular and traditional Persian music, its modal systems and its rhythms, alongside its long historical relationship with Persian poetry, at the time, gave birth to a genre of Iranian ‘Jazz fusion’* that didn’t necessarily mix the two distinct musical genealogies but placed them alongside each other. 

The tracks selected for this show include big bands, Mexican bolero influences, and an occasional twist like a Cuban-style Cha cha cha track. 

*Also referred to as 'Oriental Jazz'

Female Vocalists from Iran. 'Big Band / Jazz' (02.12.2020 Operator Radio)

Photojournalists / Filmmaker / Declamador de calle

DJ, selector, archivist, and curator specialized in older music from Iran and the wider region. Signature projects 'Female Vocalists from Iran and Beyond' (2018-ongoing) and 'Sonic Imaginaries'. Weaving genres and geographies through musical dreaming, storytelling, and deep listening. Currently resident at Kiosk Radio, Brussels. 
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01.03.25 OT301, Palestine Fundraiser
15.03.25 Bar Bario, Amsterdam 9-11 pm
18.03.25 Garage Noord, 7-11 pm
05.04.25 Rewire Festival







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22.02.25 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
17.01.25 My Analog Journal x Worldwide FM
29.12.24 Mulatu Listening Bar, The Hague
21.12.24 Kauri, Geneva
20.12.24 Adaptor Records
20.12.24 Bongo Joe, Geneva
30.11.24 Sinematranstopia (HKW), Berlin
01.12.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
03.11.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
06.10.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
27.09.24 Rijksmuseum of Antiquities, Leiden
13.09.24 Skatecafe, Amsterdam
08.09.24 My Analog Journal (YouTube)
01.09.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
16.08.24 Lowlands Festival
04.08.24 Kiosk Radio
03.08.24 RAUM, Utrecht
07.07.24 Outsiders, Kiosk, Brussels
22.06.24 Framer Framed, Amsterdam
14.06.24 Stroom, The Hague
02.06.24 Outsiders, Kiosk, Brussels
25.05.24 Parotia at EKKO, Utrecht 
04.05.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
24.04,24 Monk, Amsterdam
07.04.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
03.03.24 Kiosk Radio, Sonic Imaginaries
27.02.24 Tah Dig, Noods Radio
17.02.2024 Kiosk Radio 1-2 pm
28.02.2024 Noods Radio
06.01.2024  Radio TNP
11.11.2023   Zaal 100, Amsterdam
15.09.2023  Grote Kerk, Breda
25.09.2023  Refuge Worldwide
07.10.2023 De School, Amsterdam 
19.08.2023  RAUM, Utrecht
30.07.2023 Kiosk Radio, Bruxelles 
22.07.2023 Murmur, Amsterdam 
20.07.2023 Garage Noord, Amsterdam 
20.07.2023 Recovery Channel, Echobox Radio 
15.07.2023  Radio TNP
01.07.2023 Kunstlerhof Frohnau, Berlin
20.05.2023 Stranded FM offline party
20.05.2023 Radio TNP
18.03.2023   Radio TNP
17.03.2023   Garage Noord, Amsterdam
08.03.2023 Melkweg, Amsterdam
21.12.2022 Garage Noord, Amsterdam
15.10.2022 Radio TNP, Amsterdam
06.10.2022 Garage Noord, Amsterdam
28.07.2022 Garage Noord, Amsterdam
12.05.2022 Support act Sevdaliza, De Melkweg, Amsterdam
30.09.2021 Future Intel, The Hague
17.06.2021 RRFM, Amsterdam
26.03.2021 Khonia.fm,  Tehran
19.03.2021 Khonia.fm, Tehran
03.01.2021 Mutant Radio, Tbilisi
02.12.2020 Operator Radio, Rotterdam
23.07.2020 Black Pride Fundraiser, Klauw Collective, Mono, Rotterdam
17.07.2020 Muziekgebouw aan het Ij, terrace
22.03.2020 De School, Amsterdam
15.02.2020  MATADERO, Madrid
03.02.2020 Female Vocalists from Iran and Beyond, Red Light Radio 
20.12.2019 Pantropical at Worm, Rotterdam 
20.12.2019 Walter Books, Arnhem 
9.10.2019 ADE Soundlab, Compagnietheater, Amsterdam
04.10.2019 EKKO, Utrecht
02.10.2019 ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture
21.09.2019 UNSEEN, Transformator Huis, Amsterdam, 8.30 pm - 10 pm
14.09.2019 STROOM, The Hague, a DJ-lecture performance during 'Uncertainty Seminars 04'
03.09.2019 Compagnietheater, Amsterdam
28.06. 2019 Perdu, Amsterdam
22.06.2019 Stranded FM, Utrecht
22.06.2019 BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
15.06.2019 Vrankrijk, Amsterdam
25.05.2019 MONO Rotterdam
18.05.2019 Listening session Red Light Radio Shop
11.05.2019 Subbacultcha Amsterdam (s105, De School)
29.04.2019 Red Light Radio
12.04.2019 Closing party conference 'Realities and Fantasies' School of Cultural Analysis
04.04.2019 Red Light Radio 
30.03.2019 Arab Film Festival afterparty w/ Pantropical @ Worm, Rotterdam
08.03.2019 MAMA Cash Feminist Festival, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
 31.01.2019  Muziek Gebouw aan het Ij - De School (Amsterdam)
Support act of 'Jerusalem in My Heart'
31.01.2019 Red Light Radio: The Rest is Noise and Subbacultcha 
28.01.2019 Red Light Radio

Female Vocalists from Iran. 'Big Band / Jazz' (02.12.2020 Operator Radio)

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