Namjoo, Mohsen

Mohsen Namjoo _{(March 4, 1976, Torbat-e Jam, Iran)}

Mohsen Namjoo is an Iranian singer-songwriter, composer and musician. His style of music is influenced by blues and rock as well as Iranian folk music.

Namjoo was born on 4 March 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town of Razavi Khorasan in northeastern Iran. He was raised in the religious city of Mashhad. He started learning classical Persian music when he was 12.

At a young age, he started listening to Western music and became interested in musicians like Jim Morrison, Eric Clapton, and Chris de Burgh.

He was admitted to the Tehran University of Art in 1994.

Born in 1976 in Khorasan province, one of epicenters of poetry and music north east of Iran, Mohsen Namjoo is a Singer Songwriter, Music scholar and Setar (traditional Persian lute) player currently based in New York City.

Namjoo is considered a visionary artist who speaks for the youth in Iran. Seamlessly blending the Classical Persian music and scales with electric guitar, Rock and Blues vocal techniques with Persian Avaz (singing). He fuses the ancient with the current. His unique style of singing and effortless mixture of music from east and west has made him an iconic persona in contemporary world music.

Since his arrival to the U.S. in 2009, Namjoo has been touring the world to sold out concerts at prestigious halls including Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco; Conservatorio Sala Verdi, Milan, Italy;  Disney Hall and Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, Barbican Hall, London, Symphony Space NYC, Volkswagen Arena Istanbul and many more. He is one of the few middle eastern artists who has following all across the world from Tehran to New York to Melbourne to Istanbul to Berlin and many more cities.

Mohsen Namjoo has released 13 albums and over 20 singles. His latest album, Motantan (Grandiloquent) is released on March 4 2020.

Namjoo made several film appearances. He was featured in the documentary Sounds of Silence (directed by Amir Hamz and Mark Lazarz) which has been screened at international film festivals. He also appeared in a feature narrative film called Few Kilograms of Dates for the Funeral (Director Saman Saloor), which played in various film festivals. In 2016 he played in the feature film Radio Dreams by Babak Jalali. His newest song named, "Begoo be baran" composed by Ehsan Matoori was released in March 2019 by Sheed Records company.[9] His new album "Phantasm" composed and produced by Ehsan Matoori released on April 27, 2019, in San Francisco.

In 2009, he received a prison sentence in Iran of five years for making music that "dishonors" content from the Qur'an. Since Namjoo lives abroad, the sentencing was in the absence of the accused.

Filmography


Unforgotten Positives     2004     (Composer, Short)
Kontrast     2004     (Composer, Short)
Hofreh      2004    (Composer, Short)
Chand kilo khorma baraye marassem-e tadfin 2006    (actor)
Hamkhaneh     2007     (Composer)
Koodak, dirooz, khial     2007  Documentary (Composer)
Sky Without Passport     2008     Documentary (Composer)
Not an illusion     2009     Documentary (Actor)
Appropriate Behavior     2014     (Soundtrack)
Aramesh ba diazepam 10     2005     Documentary (Actor)
A Deep Breath to End     2005 Documentary (Composer)
Bodkin Ras     2016     (Composer) (Soundtrack)
Radio Dreams     2016 (Actor) (Composer)
Behrouz: A Legend on Screen     2017     Documentary (Music Department)
The King of Feathers     2020 Documentary    (Actor)
Mitra     2021     (Self)     (Composer)

2021   Mitra (2021)
2016   Bodkin Ras (2016)
2008   Crossed Out (2008)
2006   A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral (2006)