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About...
The current Kooch line up bears some resemblance to the original. The singer and guitarist Cyrus Khajavi who leads and fronts the band, and Dave Wagstaffe on drums are the two members from the original Kooch. Keith Turner, the founder and leader of Quasar on bass guitar and Uwe D'Rose who had also worked with Quasar as a guitarist were the next two members to join Kooch. Clare Lindley on violin, viola and backing vocals and Brian Mullan on cello, keyboards and backing vocals complete the line up.
The recording and production of their new album Zemzeme
was completed in the summer of
2000. Zemzeme is a combination of original music written by Cyrus Khajavi and Iranian
and Azerbaijani tunes arranged by him. Based in England Kooch are currently in the
process of organising live performances to promote the new album.
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Kooch
was originally founded in 1990 by the Iranian guitarist, singer- songwriter
Cyrus Khajavi. Having spent the preceding 10 years or so working as a rock guitarist
(6 years of which were spent recording and touring with the English rock band Quasar),
he decided to bring his experience from the rock world and his love of Iranian poetry
and folk music together. Having written the album Baran he invited Farzad Khavand, a
classical violinist, who was also interested in the musical possibilities outside his
usual field to join him for the recording. The next member to be recruited was Dave
Wagstaffe on drums, who had previously worked with Cyrus in Quasar. Dave's interest
in Eastern philosophy, culture and music on the one hand, and his powerful rock style
of drumming made him the ideal choice for the band. Nader Moussavi on keyboards and
Colin Sinclare on bass completed the line up. Baran was a success and attracted a
tremendous response from the constantly growing audiences who attended Kooch concerts
as well as the listeners of BBC, specially the World Service in Iran.
