Catchy little tune, no? We’d like to kid you that this is actually Mr. and Mrs. Shopkeeper on their day off. But it wouldn’t be true. The singer-artiste is Sandy, who is the clown of the Persian music world. This is actually a good thing, as a lot of Iranian music is either cheesy pop or morose ballad. Sandy’s songs are relentlessly happy and always danceable.
Ah, you want to know about the dancer-artiste. Thought you might. Khordadian is Iran(in the diaspora’s) King of Dance (a Persian Michael Flatley, if you will), and is famous as much for his dance instruction DVDs as he is for performing. He too seems to be a constantly happy chappie.
The style of music is known as Bandari – dockers music, or the equivalent of our sea shanties. Except bandari music is perennially popular, whereas ‘What shall we do with a drunken sailor?’ is perhaps a tad out of vogue now.
Anyway, this was all by way of a little fanfare to announce that Nowrooz, the Persian New Year, is all but upon us. Our warehouse is filling with sweets, our goldfish have been ordered, and our sabzeh is soon to be planted (see the Persopaedia if you want to know more). This year will be 1391, and the New Year is at 05:14:27 on 20th March.
If you’ve never been to our shop, the month of March is as good a time as ever to visit*. You can get a little of the Nowrooz atmosphere by watching this short film – but best of all come by. Our samovar is always on…
*If you want to celebrate the New Year but live too far away to come shop in person, don’t forget that we’re happy to post stuff. Check out our on-line shop, or just pick up the phone.