Namito is a Berlin based artist who originates from Iran. Proud of his Persian roots, Namito has started to work the music of his childhood culture into his music, and in 2019 his track Stone Flower was the No.1 selling electronica/downtempo track on Beatport.
Keen to learn more about Persian music culture, we asked Namito to pick out a selection of tracks that embrace Persian folk lore, but after some research it turns out that it’s a niche that Namito has something of a monopoly on.
So instead, we asked him to pick the top five tracks he has made with a Persian influence and give us some background on what influenced those tracks.
Stone Flower was released on American label Sol Selectas, and recently Namito followed up on his chart-topping hit with a new original titled Wait Till The End. You can also find his music on the likes of Bedrock, Katermukke, Balance Music and Selador.
Namito – Hava
Label: 96 Sounds
First track of my very first EP, which already included an oriental melody line played on an Oberheim Matrix-1000. It took me a few months to finish the track with an Atari with 2MB RAM and an Akai S-1100 that I bought for 8k second hand. It was so expensive because it had 32 MB extended memory!
Namito – Deerooz
Label: MFS
My second release on MFS records, again with a mystical melody and additional to that a sample from a live recording of a famous Iranian singer. The way I manipulated the sample was so unique with the equipment available back then that other producers called and asked about the method. Check yourself, it is still a very interesting effect!
Namito – Train To Tehran
Label: Kling Klong
Besides the vocals, I also used Persian percussion and the southern Iranian instrument ‘Hambune’. It became very popular during the Green Movement uprising in the same year as a track singling a journey to a new, better Iran.
Namito – Ahay Ahay
Label: Yoshitoshi
The first time I recorded the vocals of my sisters Mojgan and Marjan. They were visiting me in Berlin and started to sing an old Iranian kids’ song. I immediately knew I had to record them right away so opened my MacBook and recorded with the internal microphone of the laptop. Capturing the moment is more important to me than the perfect recording!
Namito – Stone Flower
Label: Sol Selectas
When my brother in law died because of cancer, the family and friends gathered and my sisters at one point sang Gole Sangam by the Iranian singer Hayedeh. Their voices carried so many emotions that I dragged them to the next room and recorded them again, this time on my iPhone. I totally believe that the track was such a huge success because of the melancholy that was recorded in that exact time.