Afro Iranian Music: Dingomaro

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On Iran’s Gulf coast a particular culture has grown from centuries of naval history and nearby trade.

African roots in Iran result in remarkable and distinct customs, including styles of Persian-African music and dancing that is particular to Bandar Abbas and the south.

The film trailer is below narrated in Persian by musician Hamid Said, named Dingomaro after a wild wind that is said to come to Iran from Africa and which is present whenever music is heard, the tale is relayed in documentary style footage by street photographer and film-maker Kamran Heidari.

Narrated in Persian by musician Hamid Said, named Dingomaro after a wild wind that is said to come to Iran from Africa and which is present whenever music is heard, the tale is relayed in documentary style footage by street photographer and film-maker Kamran Heidari.

The plot follows Hamid Said as he travels by motorbike to hunt out the best musicians sharing his African origins, in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan. From history’s greats to young schoolchildren bursting with potential, Said encounters a surprising difference of cultural and class attitudes to music, performance, singing, history and cultural identity along the way.

Dinomaro also reflects, with some candour, on how much of Iranian mainstream culture may have been influenced by these rhythms and norms over many centuries, including the famous Zaar ceremony and some with clear Arab influences from the close region.

Introduced by Cine Club and Fari Bradley (film reviews BBC3+4) followed by a Q&A with Kamran Heidari’s gallerist Mojgan Endavi-Barbé of Mottahedan Projects, Al Serkal.

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