Thursday, April 3, 2025

Culture

Kiosk Explores Underground Iranian Music With New Album

By Ahmad Rafat
Kiosk is one of the best-known and most popular Iranian rock bands in the world. The group recently released their ninth album, “Stereo Tull Presents,” with tracks composed by singer-songwriter Arash Sobhani (who is also a San Francisco-based architect).

‘Valley of Genitalia’: Iran’s Khalid Nabi Cemetery and Its Anatomically Shaped Headstones

The Khalid Nabi Cemetery is one of Iran’s most mysterious ancient sites. It is located in a mountainous region in the northeastern province of Golestan, near the border with Turkmenistan, and is nestled in the Gokcheh Dagh hills of Turkmen Sahra. These stunning green hills are also known as the “Valley of Genitalia.” Why? Because they are dotted with

Novelist Alexandra Monir Releases Murder Mystery, Has Film in Development with Sony Pictures

Alexandra Monir is a bestselling U.S.-based author of Iranian descent who sprang to fame in her early twenties with the young-adult novel “Timeless.” A paranormal romance, it quickly landed on the bestseller lists, and...

Surviving 438 Days in a Maximum-Security Prison, Journalist Mohamed Fahmy Defends Iran’s Detainees

By Peyman Pejman
Egypt’s notorious maximum-security Scorpion prison is reserved for terrorists, criminals and high-level political prisoners. And yet that's exactly where Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy – at the time the bureau chief of Al Jazeera's English channel – spent a total of 438 days in captivity.

Royal Photographer Henry Dallal Celebrates Queen’s 90th Birthday With Commemorative Book

By Paola Totaro
Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday celebrations last May were a lavish weeklong affair. One glamorous highlight was the Royal Windsor Horse Show held at Windsor Castle, involving more than 900 horses and 1,500 participants from all over the world. Soon, a specially commissioned book of the show is to be released with illustrations by the Iranian-born photographer Henry Dallal, a royal photographer who is also internationally recognized for his beautiful portrayals of horses.

Berlin Cancels Tehran Museum Collections Show as Iran Withholds Loans

The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) is a treasure trove of masterpieces by pre-eminent artists – from Renoir, Van Gogh and Gauguin to Picasso, Warhol and Rothko. More than 60 paintings from the collection were...

Iran Will Dominate U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda, Says Author and Wall Street Journal Journalist...

By Peyman Pejman
As a foreign affairs and national security writer for The Wall Street Journal, Jay Solomon arrived in Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Until that point, and by his own admission, he had spent little time in the region. The pro-Iran Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah had kidnapped

‘The World’s Fastest Fingers’: Percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi

By Azadeh Karimi and Ali Eshtyagh
Mohammad Reza Mortazavi is an Iranian percussionist once described by a German TV channel as "the fastest fingers in the world." Growing up in Isfahan, he began taking drum lessons when he was six years old, and was so prodigiously gifted that his tombak (percussion) teacher gave up teaching him after three years. Four years later,

Award-winning Photographer Reza Looks Back on a Prolific Career

Reza Deghati is one of the world's most famous photojournalists - so famous that he goes by his first name alone. An awardwinning National Geographic photographer, he has for the past three decades captured countless...

Iran’s ‘Qanat’ Irrigation Tunnels Become UNESCO World Heritage Sites

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has recently inscribed 11 Iranian treasures on its list of World Heritage sites. They're neither mosques, nor monuments, nor majestic royal palaces: they are qanats, those ancient irrigation tunnels that...