Iran:
Musician bypasses censorship on the internet
To the Iranian artist IO the publishing of his album 'Music Hall 151' on 27 September 2007 is a victory over censorship. He could not have it published in Iran, but now instead, it is available world-wide via the internet
IO (pronounced "eye-oh") is the stage name for Payman Abdali. His musical carreer in Iran was going well when in the summer of 1995 his concert 'Creation' in the Austrian Embassy was canceled by the Police just half an hour before the scheduled start time. This event had such a bad psychological effect on Payman that he stopped all musical activities for three years.
Since 2001 Payman has simultaneously worked on two albums, '5' and 'Persian Robots', in which he experiments with a wide range of genres. Neither of the two got permission to be released in Iran due to the complicated procedures of the Ministry of Culture of the Islamic Republic.
His new album, 'Music Hall 151', is a collection of music pieces from these two albums that can fit in a definable genre - which with Payman's words can be defined as "Electro-Ambient Persian Alternative Music”.
The title 'Music Hall 151' is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Payman Abdali’s first electronic music recital. He performed his first “Electronic Music Recital” on 27 October 1987 in Music Hall 151 in California State University of Sacramento. The tracks of 'Music Hall 151' can be downloaded for free as MP3-files from IO's home page.
About the artist
Payman Abdali was born in July 1965 in Tehran, Iran, and spent his early childhood in Khramshahr. In high school he formed a pop-rock band, Human Beast, with two of his friends. He moved to the USA in 1983 and studied chemistry at California State University of Sacramento. He also studied music under the supervision of his long time friend and mentor Ted Lane and electronic music with Dr. Ben Glavinsky.
With a friend he formed XDOT25 Music Productions, and released his first album, 'Banafsh' ('Purple'), which is electro-pop with both Persian and English lyrics.
Payman moved back to Iran in 1991 and composed music for several theater acts, such as 'The Song of the Fairy', 'Leila', and 'Cane and Abel', and was nominated for Best Theater Score in 1993 during the Fajr Theater Festival in Iran.
More information about IO's productions, bands and projects is available on his home page.
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'Music Hall 151'
IO - Payman Abdali |
