Four Iranian Musicians Live and Die in New York
You might recall last year’s sad story of how several Iranian indie musicians died in Brooklyn. Vanity Fair takes a look at what happened.
They had left Iran because playing their music was illegal there, not approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance; but the Yellow Dogs had never been political by design. “We don’t want to change the world—we just want to play music,” their lead singer, Siavash “Obash” Karampour, told CNN in 2009, in what was considered to be a risky interview, exposing their underground scene. That same year, they left behind their families, all of whom supported them in immigrating to the United States. “I see the humanity between him and his bandmates,” Obash’s mother told CNN; she wore a veil. More than a band, the Yellow Dogs were a brotherhood.The shooter was on a mission to end all that.
