The Persian Cats  - Soundtrack

Les Chats Persians (No One Knows About Persian Cats) Original Soundtrack
 

Few topics in the world of music hold the power to shock and inspire that the plight of Iran’s underground musical community does. Partially down to a sense of disbelief at the institutional repression going on in the Middle Eastern state that is so alien to our (theoretically) culturally enshrined notions of freedom of speech and expression, and partially to the amazing stories of cooperation and creativity against adversity that have emerged from the country over the last few years, it can be difficult for western commentators to critically appraise Iranian music with the same cynical eye that we turn to our own cultural products.

Having said all of that, the (at time of writing) forthcoming soundtrack album to a new, much lauded film about the issue, ‘Les Chats Persians’ (‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’) is an interesting listen in its own right, even if one attempts to take it at pure face value. Currently UK based indie duo Take It Easy Hospital provide a good proportion of the tracks on here, which is unsurprising when you consider that the two individuals that make up the band, Negar Shaghaghi and Ashkan Kooshanejad, play themselves in the film that this compilation accompanies. The five tracks that they contribute dip into a range of styles; for example, ‘Human Jungle’ comes across like a charmingly quirky take on the UK’s chart bothering indie cohort, while ‘They Sing’ is more traditional (but no less effective) soundtrack material and ‘My Sleepy Fall’ is a bare bones acoustic ballad. Elsewhere there’s ethnically charged rap (‘Ekhtelaf’ by Hichkas), alternative rock (Hamed Seyed Javadi’s ‘Fekr’) and a couple of tracks such as Dar Kub’s ‘DK’ that defy western classification, each of these 11 songs with its own spin on popular music convention. The album will surely mean more to those who have seen the film itself or are well aware of the situation around rock music in Iran, but whatever angle you approach it from this is a refreshingly different listen to much of what you’ll come across... And that is something to be celebrated.