As ’80s Iran convulsed, L.A. immigrants honed new sounds. This album lauds them – with warnings for today

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All over Los Angeles, Zachary Asdourian hunted for the music of an Iran that could have been.

The co-founder of Discotchari, a record label based in Los Angeles, spent time searching for old Persian pop records at Jordan Market in Woodland Hills. He also looked through advertisements for shows at Cabaret Tehran in Encino and explored shops in Glendale, hoping to find Farsi-language tapes that were recorded in Los Angeles studios during the 1970s and 80s.

He and his collaborator, Anaïs Gyulbudaghyan, focused on finding old, obscure dance songs that reflected the unique cultural scene of the time. These tracks are touching reminders of the music created by Iranian immigrants in Los Angeles’s Westwood neighborhood—known as “Tehrangeles”—during the years following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, as their homeland underwent significant political and religious change.

Discotchari’s latest compilation, “Tehrangles Vice,” features a collection of standout tracks created in Los Angeles. These songs originally spread within the Iranian community living abroad, and were then secretly brought back into Iran via copied tapes and satellite TV. While largely forgotten now, they’re remembered fondly in Iran as energetic expressions from a vibrant but melancholic immigrant community in L.A.

This music offers valuable insights for artists observing the rise of a conservative movement seeking to reverse progress in the United States.

Voices

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Asdourian explained that these songs were intended to push Iranian music forward. The artists were incredibly innovative, taking the sounds of the 80s and 90s and creating something uniquely Iranian. The music was vibrant enough for parties in Tehrangeles, but also offered comfort during turbulent times like the Islamic Revolution, the Iraq War, and the Iran-Contra affair. For Iranians, it represented a source of hope even amidst conflict and danger.

This collection of music reflects a time when relations between the U.S. and Iran were relatively calm. During the 1960s and 70s, thousands of Iranian students moved to Los Angeles and decided to stay. Many of them opened businesses like restaurants and nightclubs in areas such as Westwood, Glendale, and the San Fernando Valley, creating spaces where they could enjoy Iranian music.

According to Farzaneh Hemmasi, a University of Toronto professor and author of “Tehrangeles Dreaming: Intimacy and Imagination in Southern California’s Iranian Pop Music,” many Los Angeles clubs catering to Iranian artists existed even before the 1979 revolution. Performers like Googoosh were already traveling to the U.S. to perform, and many Iranian musicians who happened to be in America when the revolution occurred initially planned to return home.

Hemmasi explained that after the 1979 revolution in Iran, musicians in Los Angeles received warnings from family members not to return. They were told that artists, and anyone seen as embracing Western culture or considered ‘immoral,’ were being targeted. As a result, many of them chose to stay in Los Angeles and continue working there.

I remember hearing stories about Farokh Ahi, though everyone knew him as ‘Elton.’ He was a fascinating guy – he actually came to L.A. as a teenager to study architecture at USC, but music quickly took over. He ended up producing records for Casablanca Records, which was the disco label back then. Can you imagine? He even DJ’d at Studio 54 in New York and all the hottest clubs here in L.A.! He built his own studio in Hollywood called Rusk, and he produced tracks for legends like Donna Summer and, funnily enough, Elton John – he got that nickname because an interviewer playfully called him ‘Elton Joon,’ which is a sweet term in Farsi.

Even in the decadent disco era, he felt an obligation to champion Iranian music in L.A.

Ahi explained that the band aimed to connect Iranian culture with popular Western music, hoping to appeal to young people. They also wanted to raise awareness about events happening in Iran through their songs, which ultimately made returning to the country impossible for Ahi. Many Iranian-born kids were becoming fans of artists like Prince and Michael Jackson and embracing American culture, so the band felt it was important to create music that would still resonate with them and keep them connected to their heritage.

Food

Q Market, established in Lake Balboa in 1993, isn’t just a grocery store; it’s a gathering place and a vital connection to their homeland for many Iranian immigrants in the Valley.

In Los Angeles during the 1979 hostage crisis, mainstream nightclubs and radio stations weren’t interested in playing Persian pop music. Ahi navigated this by working as a typical American disco producer while secretly creating music for the Persian immigrant community.

Ahi explained that the Iranian hostage crisis created a difficult atmosphere for playing Iranian music in the club. There was a lot of anti-Iranian sentiment, and it wasn’t a good time for anyone. Despite the challenges and limited resources, they continued to create high-quality music. Because so few musicians in the area could play Iranian instruments, Ahi took it upon himself to learn many of them, feeling a strong responsibility to preserve their musical heritage.

As a total film and music buff, I was blown away by the soundtrack to “Tehrangeles Vice.” It’s this incredible mix of Iranian music from the 80s, full of longing and themes of being far from home, blended with this really cool new wave and synth sound. Two tracks really stand out – Susan Roshan’s “Nazanin” and Leila Forouhar’s “Hamsafar” – they perfectly capture that vibe. Aldoush’s “Vay Az in Del” even samples horns straight from the 80s TV show the compilation is named after! What’s really fascinating is how Iranian artists at the time were drawing on all the different cultures around them in LA, and you can hear it – there’s a strong Latin percussion influence on tracks like Shahram Shabpareh and Shohreh Solati’s “Ghesmat.” It really shows how LA was this global melting pot.

Music

Puthli was a remarkably talented jazz singer from India who achieved fame in the 1970s, even becoming a regular at Studio 54 and a friend of Andy Warhol. Despite early setbacks with record companies, her music is now reaching a wider audience than ever, fifty years after she first emerged.

I remember hearing stories about how this music didn’t really hit it big here, but it became huge back in Iran after the revolution. People were getting tapes of it and watching music videos through satellite – it was a bit of a secret! It’s amazing how this pop music, made right here in L.A., actually meant even more to people over there. It really resonated with them in a powerful way.

Hemmasi explained that 1980s Iran was a somber place due to the war, and religious culture heavily emphasized mourning. Ramadan, in particular, was a time of sadness without music or celebration. However, in Los Angeles, Iranian communities were freely dancing and singing – activities that were suppressed back home, where people arguably needed them even more. This created a sense that the music was forbidden and existed as an underground movement within Iran.

Asdourian acknowledged that some Iranian artists might object to the comparison, but described the music as fundamentally punk. He explained that it was distributed through underground networks – people selling cassettes on the street – and that it allowed Iranians to access information and ideas from outside the country, challenging the official narrative. This music, he said, helped people reconnect with values they felt had been lost after the revolution.

Discotchari, a record label run by Asdourian and Gyulbudaghyan, is dedicated to sharing Iranian music with a modern audience. They go to great lengths to find tapes directly from Iran, Western Asia, and the Caucasus. Asdourian described a recent trip to Armenia where they connected with a contact who arranged for tapes to be driven in from Tabriz, Iran. The pickup involved following GPS coordinates to a deserted industrial area and evading a security dog, but they ultimately obtained 30 sealed cassettes.

Several performers featured in “Tehrangeles Vice” are still living and working in California today. Roshan recently returned to making music, drawing inspiration from the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran. Ahi, a film sound engineer and mixer (including the Oscar-winning “Last of the Mohicans”), recently contributed to a remix of Ed Sheeran’s “Azizam” that blends Farsi lyrics with upbeat pop, and became a worldwide success. Ahi shared, “Ed contacted me to create melodies that complemented Googoosh’s vocals, aiming for a more international sound. We collaborated, and I’m very proud of the result.”

With the rise of a strong conservative religious movement in U.S. politics seeking to suppress differing viewpoints, the compilation album “Tehrangeles Vice” offers valuable insights for musicians facing similar pressures. It’s a snapshot of a vibrant music scene both struggling within its own country and thriving internationally. Ultimately, it shows that art – whether created by those in exile or performed under threat – can offer a vision of a different, better future.

According to Hemmasi, Los Angeles holds a special meaning for Iranians, even those who don’t live there. It feels like a preserved piece of their history, a vision of what Iran might have become. He describes it as a connection to the past, like a message sent through time.

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2025-10-27 13:33