https://iranian.com/2017/09/07/shen-true-iranian-rock-band/

Shen: Montreal’s very own Iranian Rock Band
by Bruce Bahmani

When you speak to Kaveh Hashemi, founder of Shen, you better be willing to bring it, as in you need to know your rock history forwards and backwards. Influenced by the usual Rock and Pop standards like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd – though his own song structure most closely mirrors that of Supertramp – as well as classical and even old school persian music, among other genres, Hashemi has spent the past 20 odd years trying to define and carve out a wholly new Iranian musical narrative.

Iranian Rock! It still sounds very weird to me even though it somehow sounds right too. Because while we desperately need it, we Iranians just aren’t very good at rebellion, which is the cornerstone of the whole rock movement. We’re far too polite. And formal. There is absolutely never any discussion of identity, and god forbid, sexuality. And any emotional pain is immediately buried. Usually resurfacing in the unending variations on the madness known as 6/8, with its singular primary message of “man to ro digeh doost nadaram”, followed by seeping sap, expressed by electronic instruments that no one is playing.

If you know me, you know I get angry and frustrated. A lot. So naturally I like Rock music. It helps me cope with an altogether cruel and unfair world. So suffice it to say I like Shen’s music. You as the Iranian reader also need to like Shen music too. No, trust me. Especially you REALLY need it. When you need to scream into or at the world, (and that is most of the time!) Shen screams for you. And when you need to be left alone to cry-process your predicaments or to express your uncharacteristically deep desires, Shen hands you a tissue.

In other words, Shen allows you to take your life and more healthily realize it through really good music. And even better lyrics. In one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time, “Shaansi Chand Taa Kish”, a lament in the form of our two favorite games – the only places we do heroic battle anymore – Chess and Backgammon, there’s a line that kills me each and every time I hear it: “Sarbaz-e-Saadeh, Jelo Ghal-e-Vaysadeh, Ghodrat Dast-e-Kasi Digast”. Which you had damn well better know describes us all exactly, to a tee.

And now with the addition of the classically-trained Babak Namvar (violin & piano), JY Andre (drums) and Kian Farshadi (bass), all excellent musicians in their own right, Shen is ready to tackle its complex repertoire in a live setting. Maybe now it’ll be able to spread its brand beyond the borders of its hometown of Montreal.

Lets hope so.