At the turn of the 20th century, in the popular art and media of the “West,” the “Middle East” was depicted as a mysterious, exotic region. Cliched images such as camels, deserts, half-naked dancing women, and buildings with minarets and domes were ubiquitous in illustrating anything related to Iran or the Middle East.
This is a collection of album cover art for the soundtracks of pre-revolutionary movies made in Iran in the late 1960s and 1970s. The collection includes designs for the soundtracks of art-house movies as well as commercial blockbusters.
The Tehran Opera Company was founded in 1967 by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Art. The company was active until 1978. It officially ended its activities after the Iranian revolution. This booklet is the company’s program for 1974-1975 season.
Tehran street musicians play and sing for passers-by outside Paytakht Building, located at Mirdamad Avenue, Tehran.
Paytakht Building is a shopping centre for computer hardware and software in an upper-middle class neighbourhood in Tehran.
Dave Brubeck’s concert In Abadan and Tehran, May 1958. David Warren “Dave” Brubeck (December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer, considered to be one of the foremost exponents of progressive jazz. Brubeck’s most famous recording was the Jazz piece, Take Five.
This article from Asre Jadid newspaper published on 29th of September 1915, discusses and argues the necessity of a national anthem for Iran. It introduces a new piece by Gholamreza Salar Moazez, proposed by him to be Iran’s first national anthem.
Iranian popular music changed most radically in the 1960s, when it shifted from the traditional to the western style that would dominate the 1970s. Faegheh Atashin, most famously known as Googoosh, is one of the major contributors to the western style of pop music. Originally pressed on the vinyl format in 1960s and 1970s, her songs and performances were banned after the Iranian revolution of 1979 but her music preserved via the cassettes in the 1980s and CDs in the 1990s in diaspora. Here are her vinyl record covers mainly from 1970s.
The Iranian covers design for popular music tapes. Late 1970s.
A collection of old Iranian vinyl records published between the 1950s and the 1970s.
