A winsome and dizzying spin on disco pop, recorded in westernized Iran during the last moments before the 1979 revolution. All but criminalized in the wake of Ayatollah Khomeini's theocratic repression, Hamlet Minassian's solo masterpiece is a testament to the Middle East's forgotten dance music culture. This six-song, 44-minute LP hybridizes Euro attitude and Armenian traditional songs to create long, hypnotic proto-house, seemingly beamed in from another dimension.
The young Armenian musician Hamlet Minassian was born in Tabriz (North-Western Iran) in 1940. After graduating from the music school of his native city, he attended advanced courses at the Tehran Conservatoire followed by musical research work in Europe and the United States. His career began with composing chanson type songs. He then moved into the film industry where he rapidly built up a reputation as the composer of a number of popular themes. Hamlet Minassian has also produced original vocal and orchestral arrangements of Armenian folk tunes and has composed a number of romances and the ballet.
Track List
- Hamlet Minnasian Alas-Alas
- Hamlet Minnasian On the Days
- Hamlet Minnasian My Heart
- Hamlet Minnasian Aï-A? Heyveh-Heyveh
- Hamlet Minnasian Al Elnim
- Hamlet Minnasian Michel Strogoff