Dec 2011- Over the past year, since getting back into making music, I am happy to have rediscovered the piano, having played in my teenage years; I seemed to have misplaced this old friend for twenty years.
Roya Arab at Leighton House 2011. Image Mike Massaro.
I have had the pleasure of writing and jamming with some really talented artists. Worked with Mahdyar Aghajani in Paris and Take it Easy Hospital for a bit. Rosko John asked me to write some music on piano for rap, motivating me to work with rappers - an inspired time, with piano and rap, resulting in some new tunes with Hichkas; Reveal of the Poisonous poets has been dropping his rhymes too. Had an ear/eye-opening time working, with Nick Franglin, on an Iranian translation of a holy text.
Have set up ‘Alamute’: a live musical journey through my songs with good friends including Hamid Navim, Ashkan Koosha, Tansay Omar, Masoud Sharifian, Reveal and Hichkas. Started off with private performances for friends and culminated in a performance for Yalda at Leighton House (Nov 2011).
2010 update After ten years studying archaeology and since the fun tour
I did with my sister last year, I really started missing making and
performing music. Now, am breathing life into my old songs and
creating some new ones - happily collaborating with some lovely musicians.
Leila is my wonderfully talented sister, with whom it is a pleasure to partake in
musical journeys through time.
I was introduced to Zend Avesta (2000) and Naab (1999) by a French friend, and had fun creating a couple of songs out in pretty Paris.
I had the honour of working with Mike Figgis, on a song written by him, entitled ‘This is how we are’ in 2000.
Grooverider, I was introduced to in 1998 by the lovely Trenton, had a laugh writing and recording our track and video.
Archive – It was 1994, I was working to raise money and move to a friend’s giete in Northern France, to complete a play I had started writing during a summer course at the School of Speech and Drama. Basil one of the best Jam leaders this side of the world, led Archive to me. I met Darius Keeler, and I liked what came out the tape deck - odd to think tapes sound archaic now! He had some words for Dark Room and shortly I was reworking the lyrics and singing away. Subsequently, was introduced to Rosko John and Danny G. We recorded the album within weeks. With ‘Nothing Else’ and ‘All time’, I was writing the lyrics in north London, whilst Darius had been recording new tunes down south. We met up, the words and music were a perfect fit. It was a lovely feeling, we were all united, watching young Rosko rap his awesome wise lyrics, stoned calm Danny spinning discs, and Darius consumed with enthusiasm and passion. We were signed as a band a few months later, and the word downhill would be optimistic; with the arrival of managers, A&R and money somehow the good feelings started to dissipate. I had little to do as my original singing on the demo remained, instead had to wait over a year whilst the producers twiddled their knobs! Worst of all hearing remixes that grated my bones, not least they reworked Ubiquitous Wife into some cheesy bullshit, when in fact it was meant to be a graceful minimalist jazz tune. Safe to say artistically it was like entering a void, furthermore, watching Rosko who had started the band with Darius and come up with the name for the band, being sidelined as egos went into overdrive made me really uncomfortable, alongside a personal relationship that ironically lasted longer than my time in the band. We had signed as a band, yet were fast becoming crazy seals in hell’s circus….We all lost the plot….once regained we rehearsed, then sat waiting for the record company’s A&R, who were nearly two hours late coming to see the live set….Rosko rightly walked out and a day later after a television interview, Darius thankfully dissolved the band.
P.S. Some months later, Olivier Dahan contacted me about appearing in a
video of ’Nothing Else’ for his film ‘Deja mort’. I said yes so long as I could be a mechanical doll and have flowers to arrange, he agreed and we had fun creating the video. Some time later, Darius asked if I would sing for Archive again, I said no - for me there was no Archive without Rosko; however, I did agree to sing ‘Nothing Else’ on a live French show with them, what a disaster! Someone played with Darius’s computer, thus altering the beats and sounds,
it was like something out of ‘Spinal Tap’!