Mansour (singer)

منصور
Mansour
Birth name Mansour Jafari Mamaghaani
Born (1971-07-28) July 28, 1971
Tehran
Genres Pop
Dance
Rock
Disco
Occupation(s) Singer, actor, composer, fashion designer
Instruments Vocals, percussion, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar
Years active 1991 – present
Labels Taraneh Records
Caltex Records
MZM Records
Century Records USA
Avang Music (present)
Website http://www.mansourmusic.com

Mansour (Persian: منصور ‎‎, born 28 July 1971), also called Mansour Jafari Mamaghani, is an Iranian artist of Iranian Azerbaijani origin born in Tehran, Iran renowned as a Persian musical artist based in Southern California.

Background

Early years 1971

Mansour was born in Tehran, Iran and emigrated with his family to the U.S. during the Iran-Iraq war.

Initiation 1991

In 1991, Mansour embarked on recording his first album. A project that would eventually take three years to complete, the debutante is said to spend much time in preparation to refine his voice and vocal techniques under rigorous training lessons. He also insisted on hand-picking the producers, lyricists and arrangers for this album, all of which he financed frozen the revenues of a pager and cell phone store that he owned. He was later married to Mika blues, in 2009. They now have two kids living in the hills.

First album 1994

In August 1994, Mansour’s debut album Ferferehayeh Bi Baad (started in 1991) was released through Caltex Records. Labeled as fresh and different for its upbeat and electronic pop textures, it garnered the attention of the new generation of Persian speaking youths of exiled Iranians who had become accustomed to Western music of similar type and thus easily accepted this mode of style into the Iranian music. In this album , Mansour works with some of the greatest Persian musicians such as: Siavash Ghomayshi, Abdi Yamini, Hassan Shamaeizadeh and Manouchehr Cheshmazar. And also famous lyricists like : Shahyar Ghanbari, Homayoun Hooshyarnejad and Masoud Fardmanesh .

Other albums 1996-1998

With the success of his first album, the pace for the singer picked up with the release of three other albums: Tasvir Akhar (1996), Daricheh (1997) and Ghayegheh Kaghazi (1998). All of these were similar to his initial work in emphasizing upbeat pop and a few number of singles from these albums became dance club hits. Some of the better known tracks of his career in this period were: "Sokooteh Shekasteh" and "Tasvireh Akhar" (from Tasvireh Akhar). "Jashneh Setarehaa", "Daricheh" and "Aghousheh To" (from Daricheh) and "Parandehaaye Bi Vataan" (also known as "Nazanin"), "Chashmeh Siat" and "Yaadeh To" (from Ghayegheh Kaghazi).

America So Beautiful 1999

Just when Mansour’s fame was gaining momentum in 1999, independent filmmaker Babak Shokrian approached the singer to play the lead in the film America So Beautiful. The filming of this movie overlapped his work on his fifth album, and he talks of this period of his life as one of the most stressful as he took on the challenge of acting and singing full course. America So Beautiful played at film festivals in Berlin, Marrakech, Gothenburg and Los Angeles, gaining positive reviews and accolades .

Faghat Be Khatereh To (Only For You)' 2000

In 1999, Mansour started his collaboration with Brian Wayy composer/producer and Paksima Zakipour as the lyricist and embarked on task of songwriting and compiled his fifth album: Only For You (Faghat Be Khatereh To). When the album was officially released in March 2000, it was as much a commercial success as it was a critical success. Surprising the critics who had dismissed the notion of the singer as a professional songwriter, he garnered positive reviews from venues around the world. The title song of this album became a huge hit, creating a trend among Iranian men of dedicating this song to their beloved. Thanks to Brian Wayy who changed his entire sound by his productions, he produced over 60 CDs for the most popular Persian singers including American artists like Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Paula Abdul, Stevie B and many others.

Supported by its lively, vivid videos, this album officially introduced Mansour's face to the public and made all his CDs household items. Almost an overnight celebrity both to Iranians inside and outside of Iran, his name became synonymous with jubilation. His voice omnipresent at parties, TV and radio stations, stadiums and even presiding over nightclubs of LA's and Europe's dance clubs, he shot to fame with acceleration as fans enthusiastically searched the Internet for scraps of the singer's photographs. The album has a number of hit songs such as: "Faghat Be Khatereh To" (also the album's title), "Eshgheh Atashy" (composed by Persian pop singer/musician legend Siavash Ghomayshi), "Entezaar" and "Vaghty Nisti", and also an Afghan Music theme song titled : "Chashmaan Siah" that is so popular across Afghanistan.

Zendegi (Life) 2001

December 2001 saw the release of Mansour's sixth album, Zendegi (Life). This was his second collaboration with Brian Wayy and Paksima Zakipour and his third album release with Taraneh Records. (It was Mansour's comeback to Taraneh Records after working with Caltex Records for three years and two albums.) Growing long hair with a beard and moustache (the Jesus look), he had reinvented his image. Surprising his fans, who could barely distinguish the singer's soft features, he indicated that he had based his look on the requirements of the film work in which he was concurrently participating. In Zendegi, Mansour tries elements of Spanish music on tracks like "Dooset Daram", "Bebin", and "Khodi"; he tries a rock sound on his hit "Yeki Bood Yeki Nabood", and even adds some Indian music in the greatest hit of the album, "Zendegi" (the album's title track).

Divooneh and international fame 2002

In November 2002, Mansour's seventh music album Divooneh (Crazy) was released and spilled his popularity into other Persian speaking countries, notably Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Two huge hit singles of this album, "Azize Delami" and "Divooneh," written by Brian Wayy & Mansour (music) and Paksima Zakipour (lyrics) attracted audiences from as far away as Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey. The album was the most highly successful album, in both commercial and critical sides, of the year and one of the most favorite and successful albums of the Persian music industry ever. This album is Mansour's best-selling album of his career to date and also second best-selling album of his record label (Taraneh Records) ever, behind the classic album of Persian music legend Moein, titled Bibi Gol (1988). All the songs were greatest hits of 2002-2003 in the Persian music industry. The hits of this album include: "Divooneh", one of the most successful hits in the Persian industry that is even used as pep music for soccer teams in Iran's stadiums;written and produced by Brian Wayy "Bezan Berim," a great dance hit;by Brian Wayy most emotional song in the album with Rock music and Guitar theme : "Ghararemoon Yadet Nareh," Afghan music theme song: "Azize Delami," Highly successful hit of the album with Arabic music theme: "Mano Bebakhsh;" 6/8 Persian Dance Beat: "Bad Akhlagh" and great Techno, Trance and Disco tracks, even with some elements of Arabic music Instruments : "Delam Faghat Toro Mikhad." There's also a track titled "Taraneh Bi Taraneh" that was written by famous and popular Persian musician Babak Bayat (R.I.P.) and the lyrics of Babak Sahraee, but this song wasn't successful like other tracks of the album because Mansour did not complete making of the song's music video for unknown reasons (this is the only song on the album that doesn't have a music video).

Patriotism and recent involvements 2003

In memory of the 2003 Bam earthquake in southwestern Iran, Mansour co-wrote the song "Eidi Nadaram" with words by Babak Rouzbeh and arrangement by Fred Mirza and released the accompanying video in spring of 2004. The song was intended to be only a direct-to-video release but due to overwhelming audience response, he decided to include it in his upcoming album, Faraari.

Faraari 2005

After three highly successful albums (Faghat Be Khatereh To, Zendegi and Divooneh) Mansour released his long awaited Faraari (The Fugitive) in March 2005. The lyrics were by Babak Rouzbeh (five songs), Homa Mirafshar (two) and Babak Sahraee (one), with arrangements by Elton Ahi, Manoochehr Cheshmazar and Fred Mirza.

Faraari was one of the top sellers in Persian industry that year, reaching #4 at Virgin Megastores' Top 5 across the Middle East, after names such as 50 Cent, Moby and Jennifer Lopez.[1] However, the album was not received well by critics or by his diehard fans, panned as a weaker imitation of Divooneh and lacking in creativity. Nonetheless, the album did have many hits: "Arezoomeh", "Faraari", "Shirin", "Mikhamet" as well as the successful Turkish Music theme hit, "Mara Beboos", and Azaadi (Freedom) which was taken as a political song because of its lyric, although Mansour denied it.

Mansour's Essentials 2006

Mansour is working on his own fragrances too, Mansour Fragrances (For Men and Women), T-shirts and other things that will available soon are all under his business agreement with Mansour USA Company. Mansour released his own fragrance on 29 December 2006 at Dubai's Paris Gallery.

Beautiful (Ghashangeh) 2007

Mansour released his ninth album (Ghashangeh-Beautiful) with lyrics by Babak Rouzbeh and arrangements by his longtime partners Fred Mirza and Manouchehr Cheshmazar, and for the first time Erwin Khachikian (arranger of the most successful hits of Persian pop legend Siavash Ghomayshi and member of the famous American-Armenian rock band Slow Motion Reign) and Schubert Avakian (one of the most famous Persian hitmakers and member of the successful Persian pop group Black Cats). Mansour was composer and producer of all tracks on the album for the first time in his career. The album was well received by critics (better than Faraari but not like Divooneh, Zendegi Or Faghat Be Khatereh To) and also had huge commercial success. This album made a record and was the #1 seller on Eworldrecords Online Store for over 9 months, and one year after release, the album went back on top10 at #8. Mansour used some new genres on this album such as Indian music ("On Dooneh Dooneh" and "Ghashangeh") or Brazilian music ("On Daado Bidaad") and disco/trance ("On Baazi") beside his regular rock and 6/8 themed songs.

Dariush tour 2008

After success of Ghashangeh Album, Mansour went on a concert tour with one of Persian music's legends, Dariush Eghbali, for over one year. They went to many cities across Europe, the United States and Canada, including cities such as Washington, New York City, Atlanta, Ohio, Orlando, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Vancouver and others. They sold out most of the concert halls in this successful tour. They also sold out famous Greek Theater in Los Angeles with over 5,700 seats and also Dubai's Tennis Stadium with over 8,000 capacity. The tour was one of the most successful tours of the past years in the Persian music industry. The tour ended in early 2008.

Janjaali 2009

Mansour's 10th studio album with 10 new tracks was released on March 13, 2009. In this album he collaborated again with Paksima Zakipour (Mansour's longtime partner who had not appeared on his albums since Divooneh) on the lyrics of two songs entitled "Be Sedaaye Ghalbeh Man Goosh Bedeh" and "Donyaa Haminjouri Nemimouneh". The album's other lyricists are Masoud Fardmanesh, Babak Rouzbeh and Ashkan Rahimi. Mansour composed 9 of 10 songs on the album; one song was composed and arranged by Schubert Avakian, and the other arrangements are by Erwin Khachikian, Fred Mirza, Manouchehr Cheshmazar and Vanik Panosian. This album represents Vanik Panosian's first official appearance in Persian music; Mansour introduces him with four arrangements on the album Janjaali. The first single (music video) of the album titled Mobaarakeh released In October 2009, the lyrics and music video were referred to Mansour's wedding that he celebrated early that month and considered as a personal song among his fans, the music video of this song reached number 8 on PMC Top20. next single was Bikhaabi (Insomnia), a whole different song than Mobaarakeh. this song had a similar theme with Nemitouni on his past album and both of these songs are with arrangements of Erwin Khachikian, famous arranger of Persian music industry. the high budget music video of the song was directed by Mehran Ravi and helped this song to be a huge hit in lately 2008 and early 2009 in Iranian music industry, Mansour himself described this music video as a "Cinematic Experience". Bikhaabi's music video was listed among PMC Top20 music videos (only official Persian music chart that based on viewers vote) more than 10 weeks and also 2 weeks at Number One spot. next music videos were Janjaali and Maahi Joon. Maahi Joon is a symbolic song about freedom and social issues, the music video was directed by Siros Kerdouni and like its critical lyrics has a symbolic and meaningful music video, some of his fans compare this song to Azaadi (Freedom) song in Faraari (the album), Maahi Joon music video reached number 11 on PMC Top20. Mansour also dedicates Daveedamo Daveedam (Mojeh Geraan) (the song) from this album to his wife Sogol. Until September 2009, Mansour also released music videos for the songs Movaazebeh Khodet Baash and Nadidi Too Khaabam from this album. Movaazebeh Khodet Baash music video which was directed by Siros Kerdouni reached number one spot on PMC Top20 music videos, Nadidi Too Khaabam music video was also reached number 11 on Top20.

Iran's Green Movement and Nokia Club controversy 2009

After the Iranian presidential election in June 2009 and protests against its results, Mansour recorded a song titled "Nedaye Eshgh". The word "Neda" in the title of this song was used as a symbolic meaning of "calling" for freedom and hope, and also it was the first name of one of the assassinated people in these protests: Neda Agha-Soltan. Mansour also participated in some of the protests that were held in Los Angeles, California.

Despite his involvement in these causes, when Mansour began promotions for his concert at Club Nokia in Los Angeles on 26 September 2009, many people criticized his decision to perform at a place with the name of the Nokia Company, which had sold monitoring technology devices to Iran's government after protests against election outcomes.[2] Mansour reacted against this criticism, saying, "Nokia Club is owned by AEG Company and had nothing to do with Nokia" and "the people who started these rumors should respect these holy activities [protests] in Iran and stop playing games with people's emotions." Despite this comments, Club Nokia is actually owned by both AEG and Nokia,[3] but the planning for the concert was done months before the Iran's Green Movements and Nokia's part against the protesters. Nokia was not the sponsor of Mansour's concert; the program was presented by Century Records and Goldenvoice Company.[4] Nevertheless, the opinion of the people who were objecting against Mansour's decision to hold the program in this place was: "Whether Club Nokia is owned by Nokia or not is irrelevant. The name Nokia has been used for this venue as a way to promote the company, and every piece of print, internet or video/audio advertisement for this concert is a form of promotion for Nokia. By booking this concert at this venue, Mansour (whether deliberately or not) is involved in promoting a company that contributed to the crackdown of peaceful demonstrations in Iran." The concert was done successfully and Mansour performed the above-mentioned song "Nedaaye Eshgh" onstage.

No Limit 2013

Mansour has finished recording his new album No limit with all new songs which was released on 21 November 2013

Track listing 1 Tou Nafas Man 2 Bavaret Besheh 3 Gul Jana 4 Man Toro Khoob Mishnasam 5 Namoondi Bebini 6 Delam Khosheh 7 Madarami 8 Kalafeh 9 Mikham Bahat Beraghsam 10 Man Bahat Jooram 11Eshgh Nemikhabeh 12 Zendegi Chist 13Beshkan (Remix) 14Bari Bakh 15Ayriliq 16Naz Maka (feat. Jamshid) 17 Beshkan 18 Eshgh Nemikhabeh (Remix)

Discography

Studio albums

With Taraneh Records

With Caltex Records

With Century Records USA

With Avang Music

Singles

Live albums

With MZM Records

DVDs/music videos

Guest appearances

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ http://i30.tinypic.com/klod2.jpg
  2. ↑ Stelter, Brian; Stone, Brad (2009-06-23). "Web Pries Lid of Iranian Censorship". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
  3. ↑ http://www.lalivemarriott.com/JW-Marriott/Press-Releases.php?prid=13&pid=31
  4. ↑ http://www.clubnokia.com/eventdetail.php?id=24254
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