Mehrdad Asemani
Mehrdad Akhavan, better known by his stage name Mehrdad Asemani, was born on July 16, 1967, in Tehran, Iran. He is an Iranian singer, composer, and musician living in Los Angeles.
Early life and career
Akhavan was born in Tehran and spent his childhood in Hafez Street. He went to Hadaf Junior High and graduated from Hadaf High School. Despite being accepted to university, he enlisted for military service and served for 27 months in the Iran-Iraq War. While attending school, he learned music and singing techniques from masters in these fields in Iran.When he realized he could not freely pursue his singing career in Iran, he left Iran in 1992 for Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, Akhavan released his first album, Voice of Sun, becoming famous in the Persian community worldwide. With his second album called Pooste Shab, he became a household name in the Persian community.
Akhavan has written many songs for other famous Persian singers living in California; many of them are about Iran. In his album Ghazal, Akhavan sings "Mahak" for his child, Mehrzad.
Akhavan collaborated with Persian Diva Googoosh to work on her album Q, Q Bang Bang.
Leaving Iran
In addition to his primary studies, Akhavan studied music with art professors. After performing several songs for Iranian radio and television, he decided to work independently.Akhavan first achieved fame with the album Night Skin and the famous song "Chador", with lyrics by Masoud Amini and composing by Hassan Shamaeizadeh. Mohammad Saleh Ala and Amini composed the songs performed in their first albums. After releasing these two albums and performing a concert in Los Angeles, Akhavan held concerts in different cities in America and Europe in 1999. He married Ghazaleh in 2000 and had two sons, Mehrzad and Mahan. The couple separated in 2010. In 2019, Akhavan married Shiva Rahimi and had a son named Milan.
Artistic activity
Composing for other singers
Akhavan worked with Googoosh, Shohreh Solati, Nooshafarin, Sattar, Mahasti, Shahram Shabpareh, Leila Forouhar, Shahram Solati, Delaram, Behzad, Farrokh Turkzadeh, Nahid, Sheila, Susan Roshan, Mansour, Fataneh, Saman, and Arman.Akhavan has collaborated with famous songwriters such as Iraj Janati Ataie, Masoud Amini, Mohammad Saleh Ala, Shahyar Ghanbari, Homayoun Houshiarnejad, Masoud Fardmanesh, Zoya Zakarian, and Jacqueline, and with composers such as Jahanbakhsh Pazooki, Siavash Ghomayshi, Hassan Shamaeizadeh, Manouchehr Cheshmazar, and Babak Bayat.
Collaboration with Googoosh
Akhavan's first collaboration with Googoosh was Q, Q Bang Bang, with a poem by Zoya Zakarian. It was arranged by Manouchehr Cheshmazar, and its total runtime was about 13 minutes long. This collaboration continued in the album Last News in 2003. Akhavan composed all the songs in this album. The songs of this album were written by Shahyar Ghanbari and Zakarian, with arrangements by Akhavan, Andy J, and Manouchehr Cheshmazar, who performed the song Last News in two voices in this album. Googoosh appeared as a guest singer in Akhavan's snapshot album and performed three songs with Akhavan in two voices. Subsequently, Akhavan appeared in the next album of Googoosh, Akhavan's Manifest, as a composer and arranger with songs by Shahyar Ghanbari. He also performed the song of birth certificate in two voices with Googoosh; in 2008, after three years of silence, they jointly released the album Shab Speid.Collaboration with Shohreh Solati
Most of Akhavan's songs were performed by Shohreh Solati, including 14 songs, four of which are unreleased. One song, "Payam", had lyrics written by Masoud Fardmanesh and arranged by Manouchehr Cheshmazar. The song "Naamee", with music by Masoud Fardmanesh, was arranged by Amir Badakhsh. Akhavan was a singer of the two-voice song. Akhavan's collaboration with Shohreh was not limited to composing and singing; the two went around the world together to perform a tour in Europe and America.Cooperation with Sattar and Mahasti
This collaboration was titled Gol Gandam, produced jointly with Sattar and Mahasti. Akhavan wrote the lyrics of all the songs in this album, as well as Alireza Meibodi, Homayoun Hoshiar Nejad, and Masoud Amini; Gol Gandam was arranged by Manouchehr Cheshmazar, Schubert. Avakian and Saeed Ghorbani, published in 1998, had Mahasti and Sattar perform a two-part song called "Booye Noon, Booye Khak, and Booye Gandom".Discography
''The Voice of the Sun''
This album was recorded underground in Iran and released in Los Angeles.Antique
Khatoon
Aroosak
Barge Gol (Petal)
Magic of Love
Akse Fori (Snapshot)
Shabe Sepid
- With Googoosh