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Listening to the Tehran blues in Los Angeles Listening to the Tehran blues in Los Angeles
(35 minutes later)
We were promised a night of fusion music, the kind where the sounds of ancient Persia meet the tunes of modern Texas. The leader of the ensemble, Fared Shafinury, would himself embody the musical enmeshment of the two worlds. The promise was, well, promising. It impelled me to the concert in downtown LA's California Plaza, dragging along a bunch of friends, none of them Iranian. What better way was there to test the universality of Shafinury's music than to expose it to the ears of people from places as far apart as China and Australia, the British Isles and the Balkans?We were promised a night of fusion music, the kind where the sounds of ancient Persia meet the tunes of modern Texas. The leader of the ensemble, Fared Shafinury, would himself embody the musical enmeshment of the two worlds. The promise was, well, promising. It impelled me to the concert in downtown LA's California Plaza, dragging along a bunch of friends, none of them Iranian. What better way was there to test the universality of Shafinury's music than to expose it to the ears of people from places as far apart as China and Australia, the British Isles and the Balkans?
Forty minutes into the concert, the friend from China asked, "This music is sad, right?" Her tone was cautious, polite. She was doing her best not to offend just in case the music was meant to be cheerful and she had not read the cultural signals properly.Forty minutes into the concert, the friend from China asked, "This music is sad, right?" Her tone was cautious, polite. She was doing her best not to offend just in case the music was meant to be cheerful and she had not read the cultural signals properly.
I reassured her that the music was sad, at times very sad. Texas may be sunny and happiness a constitutional right in the US, but joy is not what one finds in the sounds of this American-raised singer of Iranian heritage. If there's such a thing as a distinctively Iranian soul (characterized, say, by a tendency to lose oneself in philosophical, melancholic contemplation while doing something mundane, like peeling an orange in that artful Iranian style), then Shafinury has plenty of it. Or maybe he is simply like the rest of us, an inheritor of loss.I reassured her that the music was sad, at times very sad. Texas may be sunny and happiness a constitutional right in the US, but joy is not what one finds in the sounds of this American-raised singer of Iranian heritage. If there's such a thing as a distinctively Iranian soul (characterized, say, by a tendency to lose oneself in philosophical, melancholic contemplation while doing something mundane, like peeling an orange in that artful Iranian style), then Shafinury has plenty of it. Or maybe he is simply like the rest of us, an inheritor of loss.
Those of us born to exiled families, we know the feeling well. We walk on these same sunny streets but there's a heavy cloud hanging over our heads. We are empty vessels, filled with the woeful tales of our parents' dashed dreams; blank pages, coloured in with our ancestors' stories. And if there's such a thing as sarnevesht – fate, destiny – ours is to be mere listeners, absorbers, containers of memories of a bygone age in distant lands.Those of us born to exiled families, we know the feeling well. We walk on these same sunny streets but there's a heavy cloud hanging over our heads. We are empty vessels, filled with the woeful tales of our parents' dashed dreams; blank pages, coloured in with our ancestors' stories. And if there's such a thing as sarnevesht – fate, destiny – ours is to be mere listeners, absorbers, containers of memories of a bygone age in distant lands.
Such passivity is the common nature of those who inherit loss, but things are different for Shafinury. With him, it's the young and American-born who tells the story of the old and Iranian-born. For his Persian-speaking listeners, his songs are musical therapy for that pain that is peculiar to those on the losing side of history. Such passivity is the common nature of those who inherit loss, but things are different for Shafinury. With him, it's the young and American-born who tells the story of the old and Iranian-born. For his Persian-speaking listeners, his songs are musical therapy for that pain that is peculiar to those on the losing side of history.
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/>I have encountered that pain walking the leafy streets of my Tehrangeles neighbourhood. Often, I end up stopping in my tracks, listening to the sounds of sorrow that waft out of spacious homes with startlingly immaculate lawns. The contrast between the cheerful guise of the exteriors and the sadness that comes from within is surreal and mournful in its inevitability. At such times, I feel that the Tehran blues have always been there, residing inside those homes, even if, or perhaps precisely because, the city itself is exactly 6583.36 nautical miles away. Such is the nature of unresolved grief – it lingers on like the smell of something rotten. To those on the losing side, history is often rotten. Shafinury sings to them.
I have encountered that pain walking the leafy streets of my Tehrangeles neighbourhood. Often, I end up stopping in my tracks, listening to the sounds of sorrow that waft out of spacious homes with startlingly immaculate lawns. The contrast between the cheerful guise of the exteriors and the sadness that comes from within is surreal and mournful in its inevitability. At such times, I feel that the Tehran blues have always been there, residing inside those homes, even if, or perhaps precisely because, the city itself is exactly 6583.36 nautical miles away. Such is the nature of unresolved grief – it lingers on like the smell of something rotten. To those on the losing side, history is often rotten. Shafinury sings to them.
On the night of the concert, the melancholy in his music communicated effortlessly but it did not prevent sudden outbursts of joy in the audience. They erupted every time the music sped up, loosening itself from extended developments that encouraged the mind to wander off into the realm of daydream. The breaking point reached, one could not help but feel relief, release.On the night of the concert, the melancholy in his music communicated effortlessly but it did not prevent sudden outbursts of joy in the audience. They erupted every time the music sped up, loosening itself from extended developments that encouraged the mind to wander off into the realm of daydream. The breaking point reached, one could not help but feel relief, release.
Some in the audience acted upon it. One enthusiastic fan drew cheers when he walked into a fountain at the venue and, seemingly unable to control himself, ended his dance performance with the chest moves familiar from every Iranian wedding. This was a moment of triumph – even those on the losing side of history can feel joy. If Shafinury's music is all about yearning, memory, and loss, it failed to stop another group of multicultural enthusiasts from dancing a happy, hopeful dance through the night on a round concrete platform below the plaza's lit-up corporate towers.Some in the audience acted upon it. One enthusiastic fan drew cheers when he walked into a fountain at the venue and, seemingly unable to control himself, ended his dance performance with the chest moves familiar from every Iranian wedding. This was a moment of triumph – even those on the losing side of history can feel joy. If Shafinury's music is all about yearning, memory, and loss, it failed to stop another group of multicultural enthusiasts from dancing a happy, hopeful dance through the night on a round concrete platform below the plaza's lit-up corporate towers.
The concert had drawn in an audience that represented Los Angeles's great diversity. While the Iranian women stood out for their luxurious hair and matter-of-fact mixing of Persian and English, the non-Iranians were earnestly interested in comprehending the music itself, which was bound to feel less personal and more global to them. Young and old, the audience included super-trendy African Americans as well as relaxed Latinos from the surrounding neighborhood. For a couple of hours, the concert united a varied people on the losing side of history who had come to LA to turn loss into survival, into something new.The concert had drawn in an audience that represented Los Angeles's great diversity. While the Iranian women stood out for their luxurious hair and matter-of-fact mixing of Persian and English, the non-Iranians were earnestly interested in comprehending the music itself, which was bound to feel less personal and more global to them. Young and old, the audience included super-trendy African Americans as well as relaxed Latinos from the surrounding neighborhood. For a couple of hours, the concert united a varied people on the losing side of history who had come to LA to turn loss into survival, into something new.
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