Oy (album)

Oy
Studio album by Mohsen Namjoo
Released	6 October 2009
Genre	Lo-fi, indie, alternative rock, Iranian traditional music
Length	56:21
Label	Stradivarius
Producer	Fabrica
Mohsen Namjoo chronology
Jabr-e Joghrafiyaei (2008) Oy (2009) Strange Times (2010)

Oy is the third studio album by the Iranian singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo after Toranj and Jabr-e Joghrafiyaei. Released on 6 October 2009^[1] this was Namjoo's first^[2][3] album produced and published outside Iran.^[2]

This also was the first collaboration between Namjoo and Golshifteh Farahani in which Golshifteh plays piano and also sings in some parts.^[4][5] In addition to drums, piano and accordion other Iranian musical instruments including setar and Tonbak are played within the album.

Two Concerts were held in Italy, one in Venice on September 11 and the other in Milan on October 8 and songs of Oy album were performed with Italian instrumentalists and Golshifteh Farahani playing the piano. Both concerts were free of charge and served as a promotion for the album.^[6][7][8]

Production

After leaving Iran and nearly one year living in Vienna he moved to Venice. There he got acquainted with Babak Payami, the art director^[9] of film and video section^[10][11] in Fabrica institute, a subset of Benetton Group.^[12] Both concerts and the album production was accomplished by the Fabrica.

"I got this chance to be acquainted with Mohsen Namjoo, a special artist above all .I think Namjoo both has made many innovations in the Persian music world and in the literature of the music and the poems. "

Babak Payami, bbc.co.uk ^[2]

Track listing

1. "Hammash" - 5:16
2. "Shams" - 5:51
3. "Dela Didi" - 7:41
4. "Qashqai" - 5:55
5. "Binazir" - 8:00
6. "Khan Baji" - 7:44
7. "Cielito Lindo" - 7:36
8. "Gladiators (Faghih Khoshgele)" - 8:18

Quran sura singing controversy

In 2006 the Iranian judicial system sentenced Namjoo in absentia to a five-year jail term for allegedly ridiculing the ash-Shams, a surah of the Quran, in his song "Shams". The conviction took place in spite of his formal apology. Later Namjoo claimed that he will perform an orchestral version of this song in Venice.^[13][14][15] The song was also released as part of the album.

Allusions

Mohsen Namjoo's songs has always had many controversies inside Iranian society because of many uncommon and taboo use of Persian vocabulary and also a kind of frank satirical look into the society

• In final section of the first track "Hammash", parts of Cher's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) are sung by Namjoo in an Iranian traditional music style.
• "Dela Didi" is based on the poem "Yadegar-e Khoon-e Sarv" by Hushang Ebtehaj.
• "Khan Baji" is a Kurdish song and Hesen Zîrek already had song it.^[16]
• "Qashqai" is based on the poem "Afsaneh" by Nima Yushij.1
• "Cielito Lindo" which is a popular traditional song of Mexico, written in 1882 by Quirino Mendoza y Cortés is performed by Namjoo and within it some verses of Molana and Shamloo are sung too.
• The prelude of "Gladiators" is the poem "Faghih Khoshgele" (Pretty Faqih) by Namjoo which is a satirical praise of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.

References

1. "Fabrica Musica Special Edition : Oy: Mohsen Namjoo: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
2. مریم افشنگ بی بی سی فارسی. "BBC فارسی - ايران - "آخ" اولین آلبوم محسن نامجو در خارج از ایران". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
3. "نخستین آلبوم نامجو در خارج کشور". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
4. "محسن نامجو". Mohsen-namjo.blogfa.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
5. Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
6. "BBC فارسی - صدای شما - کنسرت محسن نامجو و گلشیفته فراهانی در ونیز". Bbc.co.uk. 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
7. from Jahanshah Javid. "Mohsen Namjoo". Iranian.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
8. "آخ نامجو در ميلان". Ebtekarnews.com. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
9. Go to Les yeux ouverts image gallery. "Colors Crosses The Atlantic | Fabrica". Fabrica.it. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
10. Archived January 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
11.   (2012-01-26). "غوطه ورشدن در موسیقی ایرانی با آلبوم تازه ای از محسن نامجو | خبرها | فارسی". .voanews.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
12. احمد رافت. "یک فیلمساز ایرانی در راس بخش فیلم گروه صنعتی بنتون". Radiofarda.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
13. موسیقی ما. "با حکم قاضی شعبه 1083 دادگاه عمومی استان تهران؛ : محسن نامجو به 5 سال حبس تعزیری محكوم شد :: موسیقی ما ::". Musicema.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
14. "Iran: Mohsen Namjoo convicted for "unconventional singing"". International Free Press Society. 2009-07-15. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
15. "روزنامه اعتماد87/6/7: شكايت قاري مشهور قرآن از محسن نامجو". Magiran.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
16. "Hassan Zirak - Xan Baci". YouTube. 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2012-03-04.

External links

• Listen to the album in iranising.com
• Read the Review in Persian and English at the Wayback Machine (archived July 18, 2011) in wordpatch.com