Mohsen Namjoo was born in 1976 in a traditional Iranian family in Torbate-jam (a small city famous for it's Dotar players), but he grew up in the city of Mashhad. His passion for music began in early childhood. At the age of twelve, and after the death of his father which effected him enormously, his elder sister and mother decided to send him to singing classes organized by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Mashhad. He began to study Iranian traditional singing and music reading/writing with Nassrolahe Nasseh-Pour.
At the same time he was also selected to study in a special school for gifted and talented children, but took music more seriously and contrary to the wishes of his family. Later on music took over his life. He persisted with singing for over six years and completed the repertoire of Iranian traditional singing with Mr. Nasseh-Pour and was his best student during this period. At the age of eighteen he decided to take the university entrance examination for the field of Art/Music. For this entrance examination he also needed to know how to play a musical instrument. He chose the Setar, an old Iranian instrument.
In 1994 he was offered a place to study Theatre at the University of Dramatic Arts in Tehran, and a place for Music at Tehran University. Mohsen took the place to study theatre first, as he was told the music course at Tehran University would begin a year later. Becoming familiar with drama and theatre affected him greatly and later he incorporated what he had learned in that short period to performing his music.
In 1995, he eventually joined the undergraduate music course at Tehran University, where he was a student of Mr. Alireza Mashayekhi, Dr. Azin Movahed and Dr. Khosro Molana. Mohsen also tought himself how to play the guitar and has learned much from listening to western singers and musicians such as Jim Morrison and Mark Knopfler. In Khorassan he took lessons from masters of Iranian folk music, such as Haj Ghorbane Soleimani and Alme Joghi.
Mohsen started recording some of his compostions solo and with two different bands in 2003 . He also writes poetry with a unique flaire. In his songs he sometimes uses his own satirical lyrics and blends them with the classical poetry of Hafez, Rumi or Saadi. His music and words are very emotional and, in his works, he creates an exceptional fusion between various styles from traditional Iranian to blues and rock .
Music Compositions
Mohsen has composed about 100 pieces of music, forty-five of which have been recorded. These works have been put together in five different albums. Some of these solo works have been recorded as raw material with the idea of being recorded with a band or orchestra in the future.
1991 - Recording: Improvising on Setar, an experimental album.
2003 - Baad o Buddah, recorded at studio Naderi.
2004 - Geographical destiny, recorded at studio Rahgozar.
2005 - Composition of few pieces including Gis ,Se-rahe Azari and others.
2005 - Recording of the album Toranj at studio Rahgozar
2006 - Recording of few tracks for another album, which is currently called: Damavand. This album includes solo such as Gis, Se-Rahe Azari and few others, Recorded by Saeed Ganji in a small villa in Damavand.
Live Performances
Mohsen has performed with his first band, Daf Daf, with whom he has worked for about four years. In 2002, after meeting the guitarist Abdi Behravanfar, they founded a rock band called Mud. Mohsen has also performed many of his own compositions solo with guitar and setar .
1998
Setar souz, Solo concert at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
Three performances named : Vocalic Music Number 1, Vocalic Music Number 2, and Vocalic Music Number 3 at Talare Farabi of Tehran Art university .
1999
Eastern singing performance with Daf Daf at Talare Farabi in Tehran Art University. Here he performed his compositions based on Khorassani melodies for the first time.
2002
Performance with the rock band MUD in Mashhad. Here he put a pick up on his setar to adapt it for this rock concert.
2007
Solo Performance at Ro Theatre in Rotterdam. This concert was part of Tehran Hotspot at Rotterdam International Film Festival, The Netherlands.
Between May to July: About fifteen solo concerts at: Tehran University, Sharif University and Museum of Imam Ali in Tehran (where attended by approximately 400 people) as well as a few small concerts in Tehran, Mashhad and Gorgan during this period.
July: Performance with Abdi Behravanfar at The Avant-garde Eastern Centre, Yerevan, Armenia,
Between September and November: Solo performances in various cities including Amsterdam (Bitterzoet), Utrecht, Venice, Rome (Academy of Fine Art ) and Paris (La Baline Balanche).
Summary of works as singer or composer for other projects
1995
Composed music for three short films also for " Negar" a play directed by Amir Atashani, which was performed at Tehran City Theater.
1996
Composed music for " Something like life" a play directed by Hossein Panahi.
1999
Singer for the music track of the film: The Black Board directed by, Samira Makhmalbaf, composer Mohammad Reza Darvishi
2000
Singer for the music track of the movie called: Tarkeshhaye Sorkh, directed by Ali Shah Hatami, Composer: Fardin Khalatbari
2003
Composed music for Hofre, an animation by Vahid Nasseerian.
2004
Composed music for Take Meklat, a play directed by Hosseine Khiani, performed at Tehran City Theatre. Also composed music for two animations directed by Vahid Nasserian Aghvam and Contract.
2005
Composed music for many projects
Animation
Death of Death, directed by Fatima Yasrebi
In Three Seconds, directed by Hosseine Zeeyayi
Films:
-I Pray for Your Return, directed by Mohammad Sangoori, broadcasted from irib.
-Forgotten Positives, directed by Ali Atshani.
Plays:
-I Must Go, I'm Late, Directed by Mohammad Aghebati.
2007
-Composed the music for a docu/drama about prostitution, directed by Delaram Karkheyran.
-Singer of the title music of the fifteen part Torsh o Shirin TV series in Iran, directed by Reza Attaran.
Other activities
-In 1996 Mohsen started research on the relationship between Iranian music and different periods of poetry in Iran.
-In 1998 he presented two articles after his performances in Tehran and Mashhad: ‘A kind of modulation in Morassa-khani (a style of traditional Iranian singing)’ and ‘Relationship between Iranian music and linguistic poetry’
-In 2000 One of his articles was published in Mahour, seasonal magazine specialized in music.
-Between 2004-2006 he occasionally wrote for Tehran Avenue an Internet magazine as well as various other newspapers in Iran about music and related topics.
-In 2005 he took part as an actor in the film A Few Kilograms of Dates for the Funeral, directed by Saman Salour. This film has been screened in film festivals including Nantes 2006.
Mohsen Namjoo's first album Toranj was released officially in Iran in September 2007 by Barbad Music.
Mohsen Namjoo's 2nd album "JABR" (Geographical determinism) was officially released in September 2008 by NEDAI Records in Austria.
click here please: www.mohsennamjoo.at
