GOOGOOSH – Googoosh

Description

Some of the rarest records from The Eas’ts best kept secret songbird Googoosh. Lost songs from the forbidden discography of “Iran’s Daughter” comprising forgotten B-Sides and mythical LP tracks. Unrequited love songs and poetic premonitions of impeding cultural heartbreak meet radical Arabic takes on jazz, bossa, orch funk and early disco fuelled by generations of Persian poetic verse.
The East’s best kept secret? Despite her reputation as one of the most well- known and beloved songbirds from the East, Faegheh Atashin AKA Googoosh is, ironically, also the performer of some of the rarest, heart-melting pop music in the world. Originally pressed on the diminishing vinyl format her 1970’s songs and performances were banned after the Iranian revolution of 1979 resulting in her records being forbidden, hidden and destroyed. Some of Googoosh’s most famous songs have since become anthemic amongst global Iranian communities, but in darker contrast dozens of 45 B-side’s and album tracks remain as distant and nonexistent memories in the mind of the most devout fans and fastidious vinyl librarians.
Finders Keepers’ first Googoosh release focuses on a handful of these lesser- spotted tracks – the ones that didn’t get away. Googoosh’s voice conveys an urgency and yearning which is arguably unrivalled under the often disposable femme-pop umbrella. Mid-tempo pulsating pop peons awash with expertly orchestrated strings (akin to that of some of the most intense European film composers) provide the backdrop for unrequited love songs revealing poetic premonitions of impeding cultural heartbreak. Other tracks combine unlikely jazz, bossa and early disco influences unconsciously inducing political paranoia from the era’s brooding anti-pop regime. Boasting a deep-rooted history of Persian poetic verse and indelible Arabic songcraft these lost tracks, from the artist known amongst Farsi speaking fans as ‘Iran’s Daughter,’ have most certainly, finally earned a place in the hearts of “outernational” music lovers like yourself.