Who put the Rang in the ... oh, never mind.

November 9, 2008 5:19 PM

Persian music aficionados, tell me what you know about Golhaye Rangarang.

Earlier in the year, I stopped by L.A.'s finest Iranian record store and picked up a couple volumes of a series called Golhaye Rangarang (or Ranga Rang, depending on who you ask). I'd like to do more serious investigation into the series, but I can't seem to find out a damn thing about it.

The rumors I've heard is that they were part of an Iranian national radio series which aimed to preserve the very finest in Persian classical music and poetry, and enlisted pretty much all the legendary composers, writers, and performers in the country's community to do so. I seem to also recall something about them being the only remaining artifact of this particular endeavor, but this is all feeling very abstract in my head and I just can't recall details.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a single Web site about it. Can anyone fill me in? No such thing as too much information.

(And yes, I could always go back and ask the fine folks at the store, but as nice as they are, they have often fielded my previous scholarly inquiries with bemusement. UCLA Ethnomusicology this ain't.)

posted by mykescipark to media & arts (4 comments total)

"Radio Golha is a non-commercial Persian internet radio station dedicated solely to broadcasting the Golha programs. It was established in March 2006 by Mr. Massoud Novin Farahbakhsh with the aim of bringing iranians living anywhere in the world close to their too often forgotten classical persian music.

The Golha programs comprise "Golhaye Javidan", "Golhaye Rangarang", "Yek Shakhe Gol", "Barge Zabz", "Golhaye Taaze", and "Taknavazan". Most of the material broadcast by Radio Golha was donated by private collectors. A number of volenteers helped digtizing and editing the radio programs which were mostly preserved on cassette tapes."
posted by HopperFan at 9:01 PM on November 9, 2008

Ooh, yes, that leads me to the answer. Thanks, HF!
posted by mykescipark at 12:08 AM on November 10, 2008

Just to provide a little linguistic background, gol is the Farsi word for 'flower,' golhā is the plural, -(y)e is a connective particle (attaches a noun to an adjective or another noun), rang is 'color,' and rangārang is an adjective meaning 'many-colored, multicolored.' Hence the title means 'many-colored flowers.' It sounds something like "goal-HAW-yeh rang-gaw-RANGG" (using NGG to make clear it's the ng of longer, not of singer).
posted by languagehat at 6:39 AM on November 10, 2008

Wow, thanks for the bonus answer, lh. I love this place!
posted by mykescipark at 7:24 AM on November 10, 2008