Name: Faravaz
Nationality: Iranian
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, model, activist
Current release: Faravaz's latest single "Mullah" is out via via M8. The full WLF EP will follow on October 20th 2023.
Recommendations: I recommend you to go and listen to my new song "Mullah" and my new EP which will come out very soon. It's called WLF: Woman Life Freedom. I'm really proud of this EP and I would recommend you to go and listen to that.

If you enjoyed this Faravaz interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her official website. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

It depends on how much I enjoy the music I'm listening to and also on why I'm listening to that music. Because sometimes you are really into the lyrics of a song or sometimes you just need some music to move your body and release your energy.

When I enjoy music I feel like all the muscles in my body become much more relaxed.

I close my eyes when the harmony, the music and the melody are really to my taste. Then I just close my eyes and I want to be in that moment and let the music heal me. Because a lot of times, music is like medicine and it heals your soul.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

In the beginning I really tried to learn everything that I needed to become a musician. I then started to cover songs which I thought could be helpful with developing my skills. And slowly I started to rewrite older songs and arrange them in my own way, so I rearranged them kind of. And with that I started to create my own music.

But I think you can always train and learn new skills during your career and while you are already an artist because the learning process never stops and there is always something which you don't know yet. And as an artist, you always need to keep yourself up to date.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

Music was something really magical for me during the age between 13 - 16 and it could always take me to another world when I was listening to it. I was a really shy and lonely child and singing at that age helped me to find a lot of new friends and also to make me special for people. So music I think empowered me a lot at that age and in general definitely. And I feel the same still.

But music also became a way for me to fight and share my frustration about this world. I use my voice and I use my music to fight and to change the world and to fight with the people that are making life for other people complicated, especially for women, like misogyny or patriarchy. And music is a really strong weapon because you can change one person with your music.

Music needs to be loud so that it can break borders and reach everyone to bring awareness to the people that are open for change.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

My music is purely me and who I really am. I always see the pain in this world and the people who are suffering, especially women. And for me, it's so important to empower them and to let them know that they have the right to be angry and to be sad.

I use my music to empower women so that they feel good with theirselves, with their bodies, with their feelings. This is something which makes me really happy and that's why I create music.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

For me it's variable. Sometimes I have the full idea in my head and I know what I want and I start to create music with the exact concept on how it should turn out. And sometimes I have just a small imagination about how it should sound like and I just know a little bit about the song idea. And during the creation of the song, I'll slowly develop the rest of the idea. But also sometimes you just start to create music and the ideas are going in another direction as you do it.

I think it's really different every time and I'm not attached to a special way of creating my music. I'm always open to trying out different ways.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

For me it's hard to listen to my own music because I often judge myself and I always think about what I could have done better. For example if I could have sung better or whatever.

It needs some time for me until I can start to enjoy listening to my music because I eventually will accept it and also be able to be proud of myself and my music.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I think we sometime don't realise that we are listening to music all the time. The sound of the wind, the sound of rain, the birds singing, the sounds of animals ...

This was actually a reason why I never understood my government. They banned music for people, but I was like "But we are listening to music all the time  because we don't decide to listen to music, it's just there."

For me, the most exciting sound in this world is the sound of rain. It's the most beautiful sound and it always gives me a lot of ideas about how to use different sounds in my music. So it's a huge inspiration. I already sang 2 songs which I called "rain" in the past.

From very deep/high/loud/quiet sounds to very long/short/simple/complex compositions - are there extremes in music you feel drawn to and what response do they elicit?

I really cannot tell if the sound of my music is tending to an extreme. It always depends on the song because I'm a really openminded artist and I'm always trying different things.

If you listen to my music you you realize each song sounds different and special, but I wouldn't say that I'm drawn to a special sound pattern.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

It's also really different in each song and it depends on the mood of the song or on the lyrics and what I want to tell in my songs.

For example with my song "Mullah" which just came out a week ago I had an idea and I we sat together with my producer and we created the beat and we started with the lyrics after that. And we recorded the first part and then the chorus and the second part. And then we thought of how the start of the song should be and also the ending.

And we really worked for this song like step by step and we created it part by part. It was not a final idea, which is already complete so we created every part step by step until we were happy with the complete piece.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

No, not usually. My music is really handcrafted and it's really something personal for me so I don't want to be influenced or "pushed" by some scientific insights, so I don't use it.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

If it's okay I would like to change the question a little bit because you asked for "how does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life?" and I can tell you that for me it's the other way around. My life reflects my music, I bring my ideas, my thoughts and the things which are important for me into my music and with that I want to create and bring change in this world with my music.

I think we definitely can learn life lessons from music. I learned a lot from different music, especially from the people who want to bring change with their music. And I hope I can also bring change with my music to other people's lives.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Music is my biggest joy in my life and I also enjoy making a great cup of coffee. But the joy I get from creating music or performing music is something really different. I enjoy it much more than doing simple daily tasks, even if it's sometimes as easy as making a cup of coffee, especially for musicians. Because for them creating or performing music became a part of their daily lives and they get super used to it and know how it works.

Of course, sometimes it's different, also for me, especially when I have to do it. Because if you have to do it, you have to sit down, and force yourself to be  focused and concentrated even at a time, when you are maybe not ready to create something new, it gets hard.

But in general, for me creating music and being creative is really fun and something really easy most of the time.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

To be honest, I don't have one special song which is really special for me. I enjoy different sounds and different music in different moods and in different times of my life, so I cannot really decide for one.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I would love to get to know more and more people and for more and more people get to know me and my music. Because the things that I sing about are super important. It's about the lives of people and especially about the women of Iran and in general the Middle East and about why we are suffering.

And specifically women. Because I always say we all suffer from the same things, just at different degrees and it doesn't matter where we live. And my wish is to get more and more attention and more listeners, so this topic becomes more present.

Not because I want to get rich. I mean I love to be rich, everyone does. But for me it's not a goal. For me, the goal is to change women's lives and to make them happier persons and to make them more comfortable as human beings in this world.