You've heard me talk about Mitra Sumara, the eight-piece, psychedelic funk Farsi supergroup I've been playing with. We play Persian pop music from the 1960s and '70s, music from pre-revolutionary Iran.
This is some wild stuff. Unlike Western pop-psych music of the period, which used sitars and dulcimers to spice up the sound, these Persian artists grew up playing sitars and dulcimers, and they applied this deep knowledge to American rhythm and blues. It's the reverse image of the flowering of pop music, and it has been rarely heard until now.
Mitra Sumara honors this brief period of transcultural rock by playing the Farsi pop songs from this period. And we'll be performing for the Persian New Year on Friday, March 30, 9 p.m., at the Clemente Soto Velez arts center at 107 Suffolk St. in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Come out and have the best Persian New Year of your life -- Nowruz 1391!
Mitra Sumara is:
Yvette Perez– vocals (Birdbrain)
Julian Maile – guitar (Loser’s Lounge)
Sam Kulik– bass (Talbam!)
Peter Zummo – trombone (Arthur Russell, John Lurie)
Jim Duffy – keyboards (Jim Duffy Combo)
Bill Ruyle – tabla & hammer dulcimer (Arthur Russell)
Brian Geltner – drums (Nervous Cabaret, Chris Whitley)
Michael Evans – drums & congas (Alex Hacke, AndersNilsson, God Is My Co-Pilot)
Special guests - Arki (Ethio-groove) - instrumental quintet performing all Ethiopian 70s dance tunes!
So save the date and mark your calendar: Mitra Sumara, Friday, March 30, Persian New Year at Clemente Velez. Helelyosa!
For a little taste of Mitra Sumara, check out this video from a recent performance at Fontana's in Manhattan. We're playing a song called "Mosem-E Gol," which was originally recorded by a group called Parva:
mitra sumara from rumur on Vimeo.