music

Born in Tehran, Iran. Started painting as a child and discovered a great passion. Left home at the age of 16 in search of life and freedom. Now residing in Los Angeles, California, still learning, seeking, and continuing to pursue passions of the art of living.

Alexander Billet, a music journalist, writer and activist living in Chicago, runs Rebel Frequencies. A columnist for SleptOn.com and the Society of Cinema and Arts, his articles have also appeared in Z Magazine, New Politics, CounterPunch, Socialist Worker, PopMatters.com, Dissident Voice, the International Socialist Review, the Washington Peace Letter, MR Zine and Razorcake.org among others. His article “Is Russell Simmons Playing Politics with Hip-Hop?” appears in the academic collection At Issue: Should Music Lyrics Be Censored For Violence and Exploitation? released in 2008 by Greenhaven Press. Billet has also been interviewed on Radio Free Adelaide in Australia and W.E.A.L.L.B.E. radio show. His All-Time Top Five artists are the Clash, Public Enemy, Nina Simone, Massive Attack and Rage Against the Machine (with a close sixth being a tie between Lauryn Hill and Manic Street Preachers). Contact him at [email protected]

Rowan Storm is recognized internationally for her drum workshops and performances of traditional Middle Eastern singing and percussion instruments. From 2000 to 2006 Rowan studied and performed dayereh and daff in concert tours with the great Master of Classical Persian music, Mohammad Reza Lotfi. Recently Rowan began studying Persian vocal technique with Maryam Hooshvar, a student of Afsaneh Rasaei. Rowan has been living in Greece since 1993, where she is a leader in the contemporary movement to embrace shared Oriental heritage. Her performance venues include New York City's Lincoln Center, concert halls and conservatories throughout Europe, ancient amphitheaters of Greece and Cyprus, Istanbul's Reshid Rey Concert Hall, as well as countless Carpet Concerts throughout the world. Recently Rowan spent three months traveling throughout Iran, deepening her understanding of Persian classical music, the role of women in ancient, sacred percussion traditions, as well as the evolution of Western culture based on countless elements from the East.............................................................................................................................................. Rowan has designed an updated version of the dayereh frame drum, now featured in the Artist Innovation Series by Cooperman Drum Company, http://www.cooperman.com/coopermanaiseries.php..................................................................... Rowan teaches at the week-long Middle East Music and Dance Camp in August, in the magnificent redwood forest of Mendocino California: www.middleeastcamp.com. For some of Rowan's Iran travels, please see www.iran-rowanstorm.blogspot.com; www.rowanstorm.com.