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Mehrdad Akhavan (Persian: مهرداد اخوان), better known by his stage name Mehrdad Asemani (Persian: مهرداد آسمانی), was born on July 16, 1967, in Tehran, Iran. He is an Iranian singer, composer, and musician currently living in Los Angeles.

Early life and career

Akhavan was born in Tehran and spent his childhood in Hafez Street (Sanglej). He went to Hadaf Junior High and graduated from Hadaf High School. Despite being accepted to university, he enlisted for military service and served for 27 months in the Iran-Iraq War. While attending school, he learned music and singing techniques from masters in these fields in Iran.

When he realized he could not freely pursue his singing career in Iran, he left Iran in 1992 for Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Akhavan released his first album, Voice of Sun, becoming famous in the Persian community worldwide. With his second album called Pooste Shab, he became a household name in the Persian community.

Akhavan has written many songs for other famous Persian singers living in California; many of them are about Iran. In his album Ghazal, Akhavan sings "Mahak" for his child, Mehrzad.

Akhavan collaborated with Persian Diva Googoosh to work on her album Q, Q Bang Bang.

Leaving Iran

In addition to his primary studies, Akhavan studied music with art professors. After performing several songs for Iranian radio and television, he decided to work independently.

Akhavan first achieved fame with the album Night Skin and the famous song "Chador" (Chador Nendaz Saret), with lyrics by Masoud Amini and composing by Hassan Shamaeizadeh. Mohammad Saleh Ala and Amini composed the songs performed in their first albums. After releasing these two albums and performing a concert in Los Angeles, Akhavan held concerts in different cities in America and Europe in 1999. He married Ghazaleh in 2000 and had two sons, Mehrzad and Mahan. The couple separated in 2010. In 2019, Akhavan married Shiva Rahimi and had a son named Milan.

Artistic activity

Composing for other singers

Akhavan worked with Googoosh, Shohreh Solati, Nooshafarin, Sattar, Mahasti, Shahram Shabpareh, Leila Forouhar, Shahram Solati, Toka, Behzad, Farrokh Turkzadeh, Nahid, Sheila, Susan Roshan, Mansour, Fataneh, Saman, and Arman.

Akhavan has collaborated with famous songwriters such as Iraj Janati Atai, Masoud Amini, Mohammad Saleh Ala, Shahyar Ghanbari, Homayoun Houshiarnejad, Masoud Fardmanesh, Zoya Zakarian, and Jacqueline, and with composers such as Jahanbakhsh Pazooki, Siavash Ghomayshi, Hassan Shamaeizadeh, Manouchehr Cheshmazar, and Babak Bayat.

Collaboration with Googoosh

Akhavan's first collaboration with Googoosh was Q, Q Bang Bang, with a poem by Zoya Zakarian. It was arranged by Manouchehr Cheshmazar, and its total runtime was about 13 minutes long. This collaboration continued in the album Last News in 2003. Akhavan composed all the songs in this album (except "Pir Mashrekh"). The songs of this album were written by Shahyar Ghanbari and Zakarian, with arrangements by Akhavan, Andy J, and Manouchehr Cheshmazar, who performed the song Last News in two voices in this album. Googoosh appeared as a guest singer in Akhavan's snapshot album and performed three songs with Akhavan in two voices. Subsequently, Akhavan appeared in the next album of Googoosh, Akhavan's Manifest, as a composer and arranger with songs by Shahyar Ghanbari. He also performed the song of birth certificate in two voices with Googoosh; in 2008, after three years of silence, they jointly released the album Shab Speid.

Collaboration with Shohreh Solati

Most of Akhavan's songs (after Googoosh) were performed by Shohreh Solati, including 14 songs, four of which are unreleased. One song, "Payam", had lyrics written by Masoud Fardmanesh and arranged by Manouchehr Cheshmazar. The song "Naamee", with music by Masoud Fardmanesh, was arranged by Amir Badakhsh. Akhavan was a singer of the two-voice song. Akhavan's collaboration with Shohreh was not limited to composing and singing; the two went around the world together to perform a tour in Europe and America.

Cooperation with Sattar and Mahasti

This collaboration was titled Gol Gandam, produced jointly with Sattar and Mahasti. Akhavan wrote the lyrics of all the songs in this album, as well as Alireza Meibodi, Homayoun Hoshiar Nejad, and Masoud Amini; Gol Gandam was arranged by Manouchehr Cheshmazar, Schubert. Avakian and Saeed Ghorbani, published in 1998, had Mahasti and Sattar perform a two-part song called "Booye Noon, Booye Khak, and Booye Gandom".

Discography

The Voice of the Sun

This album was recorded underground in Iran and released in Los Angeles.

Night Skin

References

1. Mehrdad Asemani biography
2. "هفت‌شنبه: از مهرداد آسمانی تا کوروش یغمایی". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). November 28, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
3. "BBC is talking about mehrdad asemani".
4. "مهرداد آسمانی". Discogs. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
5. "BBCPersian.com". www.bbc.com. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
6. "BBC IS TALKING ABOUT MEHRDAD". BBC News.
7. "Biography | Mehrdad Asemani – Official Website". April 9, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
8. "مهرداد آسمانی کیست +عکس با گوگوش | ساتین" (in Persian). May 13, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
9. "Bio Mehrdad Asemani". saten.
10. "بیوگرافی کامل مهرداد آسمانی و عکس های دیده نشده از او و همسرش". نماگرد (in Persian). February 17, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
11. "namagard posted about Mehrdad asemani". February 17, 2019.
12. "واکنش مهرداد آسمانی به مصاحبه گوگوش". خبرآنلاین (in Persian). May 10, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
13. ""ریتم آزادی"؛ مهرداد آسمانی برای غنچه قوامی می خواند". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). October 10, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
14. "Rhythm of Freedom"; Mehrdad Asemani sings Qavami for Ghancheh". BBC News.
15. نیوز, اخبار روز ایران و جهان | آفتاب (May 10, 2022). "واکنش مهرداد آسمانی به مصاحبه گوگوش". fa (in Persian). Retrieved August 10, 2022.
16. "Mehrdad Asemani Talking About Googoosh". Aftab news Iranian Newspaper.
17. "BBCPersian.com". www.bbc.com. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
18. "Mehrdad Asemani And GOOGOOSH". BBC News.
19. "Music latest news with googosh and mehrdad". BBC.
20. "BBCPersian.com". www-bbc-com.translate.goog. Retrieved August 10, 2022.

External links

• Official website

• 1967 births
• Living people
• Iranian composers
• Singers from Tehran
• Iranian pop singers
• Iranian male singers
• Persian-language singers of Iran
• American people of Iranian descent
• Iranian people of the Iran–Iraq War
• Military personnel of the Iran–Iraq War
• Iranian expatriates in the United States
• Iranian military personnel of the Iran–Iraq War