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My Cow Loves Me

Okay, so this one is silly. The original version of this song, which originated among traditional Kurdish communities in Iran, and which I first heard on a Smithsonian Folkways album called “Kurdish Folk Music from Western Iran,” is known on the album as “Gawas: Magna Lawaneh.” The liner notes say, “Gawas are sung while cows are being milked….The call ‘pi pi pi’ is utilized both in the song and separately to cause the cow to remain in place and to stand still during the milking process. The song functions to soothe the cow during milking and the cow is addressed with many affectionate terms, ‘You are dear, you are my life, you are my eyes, etc….'”] Here are the lyrics of All Around This World version–a very loose interpretation:

Pi pi pi my cow loves me, Wow wow wow, I love my cow
Pi pi pi my cow loves me, Wow wow wow, I love my cow
I love my cow I love my cow I love my cow I love my cow
I love my cow, I really love my cow.

Enjoy!

Old music that’s new? Or, new music that’s old?

Farya Faraji makes new music that is also reeeeally old.
The several thousand year-long history of Iran goes hand in hand with several thousand years of Iranian music-making. Folk musicians have surely been singing in their homes and villages since the dawn of time, though until the modern age classical musicians primarily performed in the royal court–in fact Wikipedia’s “Music of Iran” page claims that, “the period of Xosroparvis reign [590 AD to 628 AD] is regarded as a ‘golden age of Iranian music.’” Guess it’s all been downhill from there. The music of the song in this video, “Dildārāgān,” is not ancient — Farya Faraji composed it for the album “Songs of Old Iran” — but the lyrics are a translation of “Ghazal number 5,” a work by 14th century early Modern Persian poet Hafez. That’s pretty old…right?

Googoosh still got it

After all these years, Googoosh still knows how to wow a crowd….

Born “Faegeh Atashin” in 1950 in Tehran, “Googoosh” (Atashin’s nickname from birth) began performing at an early age alongside her father, an Iranian-Azerbaijani actor and acrobat. She started to act in movies before she was 10, released her first album in 1966 and over the next thirteen years became the most popular actress and singer in Iran. When the 1979 revolution took place Googoosh was in the United States and could have chosen to stay abroad, but instead she returned to Iran. Back in her homeland she served a three month prison sentence for living with a man out of wedlock, then she had to choose how she would react to the Islamicists’ ban on female vocalists. Rather than flee the country or attempt to perform in protest, Googoosh remained silent; she didn’t sing in public again for over 20 years. In 2000 Googoosh embarked on an international “comeback tour,” performing in 19 cities around the world including Dubai, where the audience included many adoring Iranians. Googoosh continues to perform to enthusiastic crowds, as you’ll see in this video, though, especially after speaking out against the Iranian leadership’s crackdown on 2009 protests, her relationship with her home country’s government continues to be complicated.