Mohsen Namjoo

Namjoo was born on 4 March 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town in Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran. He was raised in the religious city of Mashhad.^[1] He started learning classical Persian music when he was 12.^[1] At a young age, he started listening to Western music and became interested in musicians like Jim Morrison, Eric Clapton, and Chris de Burgh.^[1]

He was admitted to the Tehran University of Art in 1994.^[1]

In late 1997 and early 1998, Namjoo had his first two concerts, themed "modern combination of Iranian poetry and music".^[2] In 2005, he released a single "Nobahari" (Persian: نوبهاری), (lit."Fresh Spring"), based on the poem is by Iranian famous poet Sadi. The song is praising the Spring, and Namjoo dedicated it to Shahram Nazeri.^[3]

In 2003 he started recording parts of his works in Tehran. His debut album titled Toranj was officially released in Iran in September 2007 and the last album to get legal license.^[4][5][6] The album featured nine traditional folk songs, including poems from Hafez, Rumi, Baba Taher and Attar.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} It was mostly produced underground music and was very well-received among the Iranian community. This album insulted the Islamic regime, which forced him into exile in 2008.^[12] In 2009, while living in Vienna, he was sentenced to five years in prison in absentia for recording music that "dishonours" passages from the Quran.^[13]

In 2010, Namjoo kicked off his "A Minor" tour, performing at many venues globally, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles^[14] and the Sony Centre for the Arts in Toronto.^[15] Mohsen Namjoo also released a single entitled "Such Strange Times" in June 2010, his first song performed in English. "Strange Times" words came from the Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou.^{[16][17][18][19]}

It was officially released in June 2010.^{[20][21][22][23]}

In the fall of 2011, Namjoo recorded his next album Alaki live during his concert in Stanford University. This album was part of his work in the Stanford Pan Asian Music Festival. The accompanying band consisted of Ali Bazyar (Percussion), Dina Zarif (back vocal), Tannaz Jaffari (back vocal), Serwah Tabbak (backing vocals), Siamack Sanaie (Guitar), Mark Deutsch: (Bazantar, Guitar)

In the fall of 2012, Namjoo released his new album, 13/8. Thirteen/eight is a compilation of six pieces that were developed in the United States during the previous year. The performance had been prepared in collaboration with California-based musicians James Riotto (Contrabass), Robert Shelton (Keyboard), Ezra Lipp (Drums) and Greg Ellis (Percussion). Payam Entertainment produced a series of live performances for 2012. The inaugural performance in Berkeley, California, will be recorded in preparation for a future double-album release by the same title.^[24]

In late 2013, Mohsen Namjoo became an Artist-in-Residence in the Brown University Middle East Studies department. On 7 December 2013, to kick off his residency, he performed at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.^[25] In spring 2014, he taught the course "Tradition and Protest: Persian and Iranian Music," and gave several musical talks to public audiences on topics including "Shahram Shabpareh: Honesty and Minor Scale"^[26] and Iranian Rhythms.^[27] The spring 2014 semester was capped by a concert on the evening of 10 May.^[28] In the fall of 2014, Namjoo taught "Revolution and Poets: Content and Form in Iranian Poetry."

His newest song named, "Begoo be baran" composed by Ehsan Matoori was released in March 2019 by Sheed Records company.^[29] His new album Phantasm, composed and produced by Ehsan Matoori, was released on April 27, 2019, in San Francisco.

Namjoo has appeared in several films. He was featured in the documentary Sounds of Silence (Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz, 2006) which has been screened at international film festivals.^[30] He also acted in a feature narrative film called A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral (directed by Saman Saloor, 2006)^[31] which played in various film festivals. In 2016, he played in the feature film Radio Dreams by Babak Jalali.^[32][33]

In August 2023 Namjoo made a guest appearance in the comedy web series Creeps from the Middle East (directed by Sina Khani, 2023), which presents improvised sketches and explores themes of cultural identity and urban life.^[34][35]

In August of 2020, an anonymous Twitter account with the handle "Mahi" (Fish) accused Namjoo of sexual assault and attempted rape. Following this tweet, several other women came forward on social media accusing Namjoo of assault and/or harassment. "Mahi" eventually released a police report from the attempted rape that took place in California in 2013 to BBC Persian Television.^[36][37]

In April of 2022, Namjoo posted a since-deleted video on his own YouTube channel in which he offered his apologies to those who had accused him of harassment. “Yours truly, Mohsen Namjoo, sincerely, honestly and with humility, apologizes to you for whatever words or deeds that might have been wrong or have hurt you. I express my regrets to both you and your respected and noble families.”

However, the next day, an audio recording of the singer speaking candidly was leaked online.^[38] Over the course of the 17-minute monologue, Namjoo makes a number of statement that ignited controversy,^[39][40][41] such as: "I say this with all humility: one hour of my breathing equals six months in the life of any one of you." On the topic of interpretation and poetry Namjoo states: "'No means no?' The beauty of Persian literature is that 'no' means 1000 things."^[42] Namjoo also declares that he is better than all woman singers and, as an excerpt, claims that all young Iranian woman singers sing “off-key.” Namjoo also expressed overt homophobia in the recording by targeting lesbians: “The only way she can attract attention is to say she is a lesbian because she knows that if she says she is straight... there some things that are God-given, and her appeal is so below-average that nothing has been able to compensate for it.” The recording begins with him saying that since the accusations, his Instagram followers and Spotify plays have only increased. ^{[43] [44]}

Namjoo and his legal team have consistently denied all allegations of misconduct. In 2023, his attorneys sent cease-and-desist letters to individuals whose statements caused the cancellation of concerts, demanding retractions and threatening defamation lawsuits under Canadian and U.S. law.^[45] No lawsuits arising from the 2020–2021 accusations have resulted in any finding of liability against Namjoo, and no criminal proceedings have ever been initiated.^[46]

• Jana and Baladoor (2012 – A Play in Shadowzs, directed by Bahram Beyzai)
• Arash (2013 – A Play Reading, directed by Bahram Beyzai)

• Persian traditional music
• Rock and alternative music in Iran