Faridi, Raha

Raha Faridi (October 27, 1980, Tehran, Iran)

Raha Faridi (born 27 October 1980 in Tehran) is an Iranian experimental artist, independent filmmaker, radio producer, music explorer and storyteller.

She’s been producing audio-visuals independently as a solo artist since 2000. She has worked on a variety of subjects, including anthropology, music, gender equality, environment, arts and culture.

For more than 8 years she cooperated as a freelance journalist, radio producer and music researcher with BBC-World service. She produced more than a hundred radio features, recording the unheard underground music scene of Iran. Some well-known Iranian artists today were interviewed and introduced by her for the first time.

Her exclusive BBC series on HIV/Aids in Iran was commentated by Nelson Mandela Foundation. Raha Faridi cooperated with Ramin Jahanbagloo in 2004, producing a series of more than 70 radio panel discussions. Many notable Iranian intellectuals were invited to discuss Iran’s society and culture. She also cooperated with Tehran Avenue (the first independent online magazine in Iran), as a columnist. This was followed by the teamwork of holding underground music and urban film festivals. In 2006 she produced a Beirut-based radio series, entitled “Iraq 360 Degree” about artists working on the subject of the Iraq war.

In 2009 Raha Faridi started traveling around Iran with a camera and a sound recorder in her backpack, documenting locals in search of music and life stories. The result was several experimental documentaries, a folklore music album and her latest ethnographical length documentary “Chicheka Lullaby”, which was a turning point in her currier. The film archives a collection of traditional music and contemporary fusion also opens up a window to culture and lifestyle in the south of Iran. The project was crowdfunded in 2014, through a successful Kickstarter campaign. After years of prohibitions and obstacles, in 2018 “Chicheka Lullaby” finally started screenings all over Iran and festivals around the globe.

Raha Faridi is a light traveler. She expresses her stories with simple and portable equipment and shares much of her work, films and music recordings, for free on the internet, under Creative Commons license. (rahafaridi.com/)

2019   Chicheka Lullaby | Girgirak (2019)