Live at WFMU on Rob Weisberg's Show on 10/4/2008 Radio Program

Iranian-born singer Mamak Khadem been a force on LA's massive Persian music scene for many years. Formerly with the crossover band Axiom of Choice, Mamak Khadem's new solo CD Jostojoo shows her rootsier side. The CD is grounded in Persian classical tradition and especially Farsi language poetry, both ancient and modern. But there are also significant melodic and rhythmic strains from other countries in the region. And from the rest of the world too: Mamak's collaborators include Persian classical musicians but also jazz / improvisers like Eyvind Kang and Skuli Sverrison. (She also sometimes steps out of the art-music world entirely to do soundtrack work, including contributions to TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Gallactica.)
In the first hour-plus of tonight's show Mamak Khadem is joined by husband / santur (dulcimer) player Hamid Saeidi for a couple of live songs. And we’ll hear and talk about the new cd as well as other things, from the challenges of the emigre life to her soundtrack work to a new work-in-progress seeking to give lost female poets of long-ago Persia the recognition they weren't allowed in their lifetimes.
(WFMU Playlist and Archive)

Rob Weisberg

Gil Shuster