According to figures released by the music website beeptunes.com, where a vast archive of songs is available for sale and download, the latest album by Iranian musician, singer, record producer and songwriter Mohsen Chavoshi, 37, was the bestseller of the last fiscal year that ended on March 20.
Released in 2016, Chavoshi’s popular album is titled ‘Harmless Ruler’ (in Persian: ‘Amir-e- Bigazand’). The album is based and named after a poem by the celebrated 13th century Persian poet and mystic Rumi, IRNA reported.
Harmless Ruler comprises 12 tracks based on some verses by Rumi and Sa’di of Shiraz, another illustrious Persian poet of the medieval period (1210-1292), as well as a number of lyrics by poet and writer Ali Akbar Yaghitabar, 38; and lyricists Pedram Parizi, 43, and Hossein Safa, 37.
The first track is namesake of the album. Others are ‘My Heart’, ‘Genghis’, ‘Who Is This’, ‘War-Torn’, ‘Fascination’, ‘Shah Maqsoud’ (gem-quality olivine, called so in Iran and Afghanistan), ‘Bewildered’, ‘Shame’, ‘The Last Bus’, ‘Antidote’ and ‘Connected’.
After ‘Harmless Ruler’, the next highest sale figure belongs to the album ‘Path of Love’ (in Persian: Tariq-e-Eshq), composed by late Iranian musician and researcher Parviz Meshkatian (1955-2009) and sung by internationally acclaimed classical and traditional Persian vocalist and composer Mohammad Reza Shajarian, 76. The 10-track album was performed in 1988 in Paris, but was released in Iran last September.
Next comes ‘Turning 30’ (in Persian: ‘30 Salegi’), an album sung by Iranian pop music singer Ehsan Khajeh Amiri, 32, followed by ‘Walk of Ordibehesht’ (the second month in Iranian calendar), a 2016 album by Daal Band released on May 13. ‘Walk of Ordibehesht’ won Barbod Award for Best Mixed Genre Music Composer of the Year from Fajr International Music Festival.
‘I Said, Don’t Go,’ a pop album by singer Mohammad Alizadeh, 35, is ranked 5th based on e information released by Beeptunes.
The next five albums are ‘Untold’ by composer and singer Hafez Nazeri, 37, released in 2014; ‘Love Again,’ sung by pop singer Hamed Homayoun, 35, released in January; ‘Full Length Mirror’ by pop musician Mehdi Yarrahi, 35, released in February; ‘Manshour’ (prism), a 2016 album by composer, singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player Kaveh Yaghmaee, 48; and finally ‘Unrepeatable Dream’ (in Persian ‘Roya-e-Bitekrar’), a pop album sung by Ali Zand Vakili, 31, released in February.
Based on available data, there is a gradual shift from pop music toward rock and fusion music.
