Golnar

Born and raised in Teheran Golnar has never dreamed of becoming a singer. It was just not possible in Iran with its many restrictions for women. At 16 she moved with her family to Toronto, where she later studied Biology. However, music has always played an important role in Golnar’s life, it just took the now Vienna-based artist some detours to – literally speaking – find her voice. And wow, what a voice that is! The vocalist, composer, lyricist and multi-instrumentalist rediscovers and reinterprets Iranian/Oriental folklore and traditional music, but next to Farsi also sings in English, Kurdish, Turkish, Spanish, Sephardic or her own fantasy language. Golnar draws upon a century-old musical tradition, mixes it with jazz and pop and stays an improviser at heart. Or as she puts it: “I have always been an improviser in my life. I am not just talking about music. It’s a mentality.”