Googoosh
(Finders Keepers) Used CD $13.00
Despite being a national treasure to generations of free-thinking Iranians and one of the most well-known and beloved songbirds from the East, Faegheh Atashin found her songs and performances — combining inspiration from a deep-rooted history of Persian poetic verse and indelible Arabic songcraft — banned after the Iranian revolution of 1979. Her most famous songs have become anthems among international Iranian communities. Finders Keepers’ first Googoosh release focuses on a handful of her lesser-spotted tracks —mid-tempo pop peons with pulsating rhythm sections awash with expertly orchestrated strings (akin to that of intense Italian or French film composers). Other tracks take cues from jazz, bossa and early disco, unconsciously inducing political paranoia from the era’s imminent anti-pop restrictive regime.
Disco Dildar
(Finders Keepers) Used CD $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
Rare, plugged-in proxy pop from some of Pakistan’s lesser-known teen flicks spanning the late 1970s and ’80s, featuring drum heavy disco guesstimates built around multilingual lyrics celebrating Saturday nights, Disco Dildars and Hindustani Hogmanays. These original synth-dripped 45 EPs are not from the front of the pile, nor the quirky result of some token musical tourism. The music found here once soundtracked rebellious all-nighters and hotel bar rendezvous from films parents would loathe. This opulent, off-center party targets the cut-and-paste, electronics and fuzz tones of flightless super heroes such as Tafo, Ashraf, Rana and Ahmed, voiced by Mehnaz, Runa Laila and Queen Noor Jehan. This workshop funk redefines both DIY and disco, revealing a whole new side to world music and marking Pakistani pop culture’s transformation from disposable and indefinable to indispensable.