The rise and fall of Persian drill

Few musical movements in recent decades have captured the raw tension of urban life with the immediacy and urgency of U.K. drill. Emerging in the early 2010s from the council estates of South London—particularly Brixton and Peckham—it emerged as a raw, uncompromising voice for a generation grappling with the harsh realities of life on the…

2025-04-28ByHossein Filizadeh

Music

Introducing Persian Psychedelia, Reborn: Dastgâmachine

In a city as multicultural and musically diverse as Toronto, it’s not uncommon to stumble across new artists and groups who are actively reshaping the current music landscape as we know it today. Dastgâmachine is no exception to this. This Toronto-based trio has created its own niche of psychedelia by combining Persian classical music with…

2025-04-28BySarah Jafari

Film

Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh: the sound beneath the story

You’ve heard him in Gheysar, Dash Akol, Reza Motori The music hits before the story does. It curls around your ear like a whisper before the first punch is thrown, the first tear falls, the first cigarette lights. In an interview, he tells the story of where it all began. He was ten, buying single film…

2025-04-24ByGashta Berahman

Music

Farzad Ghadimi and Saeed Dehghan drop ‘Rasmi’, no skip

I first encountered Farzad Ghadimi nearly three years ago, when his debut single Shelik burst forth like a sudden spark in the dark. That track wasn’t merely a promising start—it was a declaration. From the opening bars, it was clear that a distinctive new voice had emerged in Persian rap, one that refused to be…

2025-04-23ByHossein Filizadeh

Art

“In Iran They Call Me English and in England They Ask Me Where I’m From”: Navigating Identity and Belonging in Bea Dero’s Bound by Two Homes

What does it mean to belong to two places, yet fully to neither? For many growing up in the diaspora, this sense of in-betweenness—a constant balancing act between identities, languages and cultures—is part of everyday life. “In Iran they call me English and in England they ask me where I’m from,” says British-Iranian artist Bea…

2025-04-16ByAryana Davani

Music

How rage is reshaping Persian rap

What has long set Persian rap apart from other popular music scenes in Iran is not merely its sound or lyrical boldness, but a deeper, more ambitious undercurrent—a shared desire among its artists, producers, fans, and even digital platforms to be part of something far larger than themselves. This is a community with one eye…

2025-04-14ByHossein Filizadeh

Fashion

AGA BIBI—Today this, tomorrow that

AGA BIBI is a fashion brand driven by the vision of Mehrnoush Shahhosseini—an architect, designer, storyteller and the creative team lead behind AGA BIBI. Born in 1973 in Tehran, she grew up as the youngest of a five-member family, with two older brothers. Her father was a university professor of literature and her mother was…

2025-03-25ByAryana Davani

Art

Through the curious world of her viral videos, Ella Lotfi seeks to break barriers and redefine movement.

Ella Lotfi’s instagram lately begs a lot of questions. In one video, she’s at the gym using a chest press with her legs, and in another, she climbs a staircase in a manner that can only be described as being akin to an upside-down spider, while 2 other guys fall down the same staircase like…

2025-03-20ByCyrus Jarvis

Culture

Lost but Not Forgotten: Reviving Iran’s Flavors

I had the opportunity to speak with Shahrzad Shokouhivand, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu pastry school, founder of L'Atelier de Shahrzad and Femme Chic Patisserie, the first Iranian to receive the esteemed L’Ordre du Mérite Agricole. As a visionary pastry chef and entrepreneur, she has been instrumental in reviving Iran’s forgotten flavors and bringing…

2025-03-20ByParisa Mohsen

Music

Rehearsal: Golsa and the Music of the Streets

The interview with Golsa started in a way that was as unique as the artist herself. I could hear the unmistakable sounds of bustling Iranian high streets in the background as we finally connected. It’s a cold day, she’s probably walking an uphill pathway as she keeps breathing between every few words or so. And then,…

2025-03-20BySeper Mardani

عضویت در خبرنامه

عضویت در خبرنامه