Having listened to Cheshme3vom (Third Eye in Persian) via the internet,  my initial audible instincts confirmed that the sounds were edgy, fast-paced punk rock, with strong vocals and intense power chords. This could easily be included in a “best of” compilation of Hardcore…in the lines of Fugazi, The Sex Pistols, or Dead Kennedys. The lyrics, [...]

I hate Iranian music. Or so I thought. Last night, somewhere between the mandatory, polite applause that pre-empted the screening of  “No One Knows About Persian Cats” and the enthusiastic, deserved standing ovation that followed it, all of that changed. It wasn’t so much the first half of the sentence that became obsolete but the [...]