Transcending Local with SAHAB

I love the broad range of music our DJ’s so lovingly share with us on their shows at BFF. I’ve heard music I wouldn’t have discovered on my own, either because it’s of a genre I don’t normally listen to or the artist is deep underground. Community radio like this helps turn that whispered word of mouth into something just audible so I can learn about all these interesting people who throw themselves into their unique and personal musical expressions. I feel lucky to not only hear their music, but to also hear about their lives and artistic processes.

SAHAB is a prolific Iranian-American electronic music producer and painter in the Bay Area.

Being a local doesn’t have to limit you to one place though. SAHAB grew up splitting his time between Fresno and Iran. With influences ranging from Dervish poetry to 90’s grunge, his work can be seen as both a celebration and reconciliation of multifaceted aspects of the self that transcend one home or cultural experience.

For this episode, let’s get in the time machine and travel to the before before times of November 5th, 2016 when Zuha Khan, AKA DJ Baqvas, invited SAHAB onto her show, Fractal Chambers, to talk about multiculturalism and art. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to just let my mind settle in this other place and time for a bit.

Since this interview, SAHAB has continued on his quest to tell us his truth. For his self-titled seventh album, he’s joined with UK based label Zabte Sote, which keeps a unique focus on experimental electronic music from Iranian composers. His single, MOCHA, is available now and the whole album is available for preorder on Zabte Sote's Bandcamp.

DJ Baqvas does such a great job creating a show with incredible depth and breadth, introducing us to music from all over the world. There’s something special about bridging a focus on local indie music with a global one, especially because many of the things we face, like our current pandemic reality, climate change, and white supremacy, affect the whole world. Shrinking the distance between us, sharing in our humanity, and learning from the ways we’re different is so vital to our survival.

And so is the comfort of listening over and over to the albums we know and love like they’re our best friends in the world.