7″ vinyl only
Cut by Jason at Transition
Artwork and photography by Jon Wozencroft
Track listing:
Side A: Hejrat
Side B: Endless Spring
Recorded with rage during the winter of 2011/12. “Voice of a Burnt Generation”, sung by Hani, recorded lo–fi in the Eissenhutenstadt refugee camp, Germany.
320 kpbs – 1 track – 44:22
The third and last in a series of reworkings of Sohrab material by artists showing solidarity to his cause for legal status in Germany.
Ash International mix content providers:
Maia Urstad – Himmel über Bergen 5:00 | Zerocrop – Susanna (Zerocrop remix) 10:54 | Sarah Nicolls – Orshab 17: 15 | Achim Mohné – Syntactical audio observation of the apparatus 26:18 | BJNilsen – Marg Bar (DUB) 35:15 | Jim O’Rourke – Somebody 44:22
320 kpbs mp3 – 1 track – 37:09
Photography: Sohrab
The second in a series of reworkings of Sohrab material by artists showing solidarity to his cause… all label and artist money goes towards the fund for his appeal against refusal to be granted political asylum in Germany…
Philip Marshall mix content providers:
Daniel Menche – Zarinn (menche mix) 11:45 | Jana Winderen – Susanna 7:00 | Philip Jeck – Susanna (remix) 5:23 | Philip Marshall – Somebody, Hidden 7:45 (Mastered by BJNilsen, Berlin, 20th May 2011) | Michael Esposito – Somebody’s Ghost 6:47
320 kpbs mp3 – 1 track – 37:09
Photography: Jon Wozencroft
The first in a series of reworkings of Sohrab material by artists showing solidarity to his cause… all label and artist money goes towards the fund for his appeal against the refusal to be granted political asylum in Germany…
Touch mix content providers:
JG Thirlwell – Susanna (Uxorial mix) 4:48 | Achim Mohné – Milan Knizhak mix#1 (side a) 6:05 | Jóhann Jóhannsson – Zarrin (remix) 6:01 (Mixed by Jóhann Jóhannsson at NTOV, Copenhagen, 24th May 2011) | Anonymous – Triple Exposure 9:10 (Mastered by a different Anonymous 24th May 2011) | Leif Elggren – No One Really Knows (destroyed) 11:46
‘Faryad bar Dictator’ ‘فریاد بر دیکتاتور’
1 track – Download only – 8:56
Mastered by BJNilsen
As you may know, Sohrab managed to leave Iran late last year for Germany, where he appealed for political asylum having been interned in Brandenburg. This appeal has failed and he is trying to raise funds to appeal against this latest ruling.
If he fails, it is probable that Sohrab will be flown back to Iran and arrested at Tehran Airport… Europe is reassessing its policy to ‘immigrants’ on a daily basis, partly because of the rise of the political right, but also because of the influx of refugees from the ‘Arab Spring’. The vast majority are being unceremoniously shipped back to their point of origin…
This release is a fund-raiser to help pay for a lawyer to help with his appeal against the ruling. 100% of Artist and Label money from this release will be donated directly to the appeal fund.
You can donate more if you wish simply by purchasing multiple copies of this release.
The protest was recorded in Tehran in the autumn of 2009.
On June 12, 2009 the Iranian presidential elections were held, and the results were strongly contested by the population. For the first time after the Islamic Revolution, Iranians expressed their dissent by organizing huge demonstrations against the regime. But the protest was not limited to demonstrations in public spaces; every night at 10 o’clock, citizens gathered on rooftops to continue their protests, chanting “Allah u Akbar” (“Allah is great”). At times, these chants would be interrupted by other, more indignant, chants of “Mag bar diktator” (“Death to the dictator”). During these protests, the dark Tehran nights were haunted by the ghost-like shadows and their eerie voices. Dreams, memories, emotions, and hopes roam around like ghosts on the rooftops of Teheran.
LP – 6 tracks – 40:20 + free download: Aamookhtan Baraye Zistan (42:46) when you buy the vinyl from the TouchShop
Mastered by Denis Blackham
Cut by Jason @ Transition
Photography by Jon Wozencroft
Track listing:
side one
Susanna (9:51)
Somebody (5:59)
Pedagogicheskaya Poema (3:28)
side two
Himmel Über Tehran (5:31)
A Hidden Place (9:27)
Zarrin (6:16)
Sohrab was born in Tehran in 1984. He was seven when the Iran-Iraq war ended. His name, from an old poem called ‘Shahname’, means ‘rouge water’, which can also mean ‘blood’. He started a punk band with his brother and a friend, which lasted about two years before splitting. Sohrab is totally isolated in Iran, with little or no connection to what is happening there. Sohrab is, like so many, displaced within his own country and occupies a similar internal cultural isolation. This is suggested by Jon Wozencroft’s imagery and artwork; looking in through shattered glass and an air of menace underneath the surface.
He recently performed live at Berghain for a Touch night, with Fennesz, Hildur Gudnadottir and others. It was his first legal gig since a performance by his punk band was broken up by the police in Tehran…
He is currently seeking status as a political refugee…
Sohrab used Reason 3, his midi controller (R)evolution UC-16 and a sampler, recorded live through Ambrosia recording software.
You can listen to his contribution to TouchRadio, “Tanhayi – Live in Tehran”, recorded in October 2009
و چنان بی تابم، که دلم می خواهد
بدوم تا ته دشت، بروم تا سر کوه
دورها آوایی است، که مرا می خواند
so restless am i that i wish
to run to the end of the plain,
to top of the mountain
there is a voice in the distance,
that is calling me
(Sohrab Sepehri)
Visit Sohrab’s website here
Following Touch: Isolation which covered the first lockdown period in the UK, Touch: Displacing as a full album is now available; the focus falls on longer-form compositions, originally released on a monthly basis over 2020-2021 and featuring artists for whom duration is a key feature of their work.
Full album now available - 28 exclusive tracks recorded by Touch artists,
with the final track delivered on 25th May 2020. A photographic counterpoint by Jon Wozencroft, the view from Hampstead Heath during the London lockdown.