Afro-Iranian Ensemble Rocks Harlem’s Apollo Theater

Stepping out on stage barefoot and dressed in a loose-fitted dashdasheh from his native Bushehr, Saeid Shanbehzadeh wrapped his arms around a velvet ney-anban, an Iranian bagpipe, and started to blow. The instrument wailed its high-pitched sounds throughout Harlem’s world-famous Apollo Theater as the 1,000-plus audience gazed on, enraptured in the moment. Within minutes, they were clapping, singing, and hollering while Shanbehzadeh paced the stage, spinning at times, chanting lyrics.

On Friday, September 23, the Shanbehzadeh Ensemble rocked the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York with a mixture of music from Iran’s African-influenced south and American jazz. The ensemble is comprised of Saeid Shanbehzadeh, an Afro-Iranian musician and dancer from Bushehr, Iran, along with his son Naghib Shanbehzadeh on percussion, and his wife, Sheida Shanbehzadeh-Bozorgmehr, who was also on percussion and provided back-up vocals. They were accompanied by guests Rostam Mirlashari, a singer from Sistan-Baluchistan, Iran, Santi Debriano, a jazz bassist from Brooklyn, New York and Tommy Campbell, the renowned American drummer. The Not A Crime campaign organized the concert to mark the end of this year’s awareness-raising initiatives for Baha’is in Iran, who face civil rights discrimination. Iranian authorities ban Baha’is from from attending university, and subject them to random arrests, imprisonment — and even execution.

“Harlem is where we found a home,” explained Maziar Bahari, the campaign’s founder and editor-in-chief of IranWire.. “What happened to African-Americans before the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 and what is happening to some African-Americans now... mirrors what is happening to the Baha’is of Iran at the moment,” he said on stage to the crowd. He explained that the campaign, which uses street art murals in six different countries to talk about inequality, has been most well-received in Harlem. The neighborhood, he said, held special significance for Not A Crime, not only because of its links to the struggle for equal rights for African-Americans in the United States, but also because its identity is synonymous with arts and creativity, and because the community was so interested in telling the story of Baha’is in Iran.

The music at the Apollo that night included improvisation, as well as performances of the Zar Ceremony, which is used to ward off bad spirits, and Bandari songs, which are played at weddings and other celebrations in Iran’s south. “This tour focuses on the music of African immigrants in Iran, Afro-Iranian music,” said Saeid, who leads the group. “Like myself, this music has African roots,” he added. Saeid is from Bushehr, and his mother’s surname is Pur Afrigha, which means “Africa’s child.” Saeid told IranWire that black people immigrated to Iran at various periods throughout history, and that some may have come even before the birth of Jesus Christ. “Iranian merchants brought black people to Iran as laborers in the 17th century. They worked as servants in the households of wealthy families in the south,” he said. The Qajar dynasty, which ruled Iran from 1785 to 1925, had black servants as well. Saeid said that while some black people in the past lived freely, and were not indentured servants, they were for the most part poor. He said they played an important part in music and dance in various parts of Iran. “When I look at myself, I see that I come from far, far away. I come from a long, long time ago,” he said.

When he sings, Saeid sometimes sounds as if he is howling. “I believe you must have experienced pain to make these sounds. They are joyful and moving, but there is a lot of pain in them,” he told IranWire. During the performance, he explained that he experienced pain throughout his life and always had to fight for his rights, which helped him to understand Baha’is and the historical plights of African-Americans in the West. “In the past, if someone gave me one black eye, I would give that person two black eyes,” he said. Later, however, after hearing how Baha’is did not seek revenge despite suffering incredibly ignoble challenges to their dignity, he changed how he reacted to situations. “I learned two things from the Baha’is,” he said. “I learned that going after revenge dulls you from inside, and corrupts you from within, and also that lying might be a temporary solution but it’s going to ruin life in the long term.”

His wife Sheida told IranWire that she sees their artistry as an obligation to protest and teach the world about injustices and discrimination. So she feels honored to be a part of the Not A Crime campaign. “As a woman in Iran, I went through a lot. Women are fighting against everything, like not wearing a hijab, and we cannot even sing,” she said. She told IranWire about a friend of hers who lives in Bushehr and wants to sing but cannot. “I live outside of Iran and don’t face those kinds of problems anymore, so it is my responsibility to perform as best as I can because I can do it here,” she said. Sheida told IranWire that many of the taboos in Iran come from the government, but others do not, and that it is her responsibility to challenge those taboos as well. “It’s coming from cultural and traditional limitations too. So people should get involved here and put their lives at risk,” she said.

Rostam Mirlashari joined the ensemble that evening to sing Baluchi and Sistani love songs that he learned from his parents when he was a child, while two American jazz musicians played along with the group. “It was an amazing show, probably the best Persian concert I’ve ever been to having grown up in a Persian household,” said Mina, 30, a statistician, who lives in the neighborhood. “The diversity of the individuals and the music stood out. I’ve never seen an upright bass played with Persian music.” Duncan, 30, a hedge fund analyst, said, “He was playing the spines of the collective audience.” At one point, all of the musicians exited the stage so Naghib, Saeid’s son, could perform a solo on percussion. “The little intermission as well with his son, with the spider-finger rain on the drum, was awesome. I almost fell off the balcony for that,” said Rasmus, 28.

The Not A Crime mural and advocacy project for this year comes to a close at the end of the month. Four remaining murals will be completed by the end of the week.