Silk Road Secret Agents is Discotchari‘s monthly debriefing of music that highlights the fusion of musical movements around the world and throughout the ages with ethnic identities rooted in the diverse Silk Road region. We also dive deep into the history of artists whose life stories and music evoke dramatic cinema fit for Tarantino, Kiarostami, Wong Kar-Wai, Youssef Chahine and other legendary directors. These artists often times relied on their musical talent to navigate complex social structures, unite people from different backgrounds, and preserve their ethnic roots by reimagining them in new forms: inspiring the name “Silk Road Secret Agents”.

The basis of the Silk Road’s influence was local demand and appreciation for foreign supply of spices, materials, knowledge and all other tangible forms of culture. Alongside our radio show, we bring these values into the real world by playing and promoting live events featuring local talent who collectively embody the second metaphor of “Silk Road Secret Agents”: music selectors and artists acting as ambassadors and creators of international dance and roots music that is embedded with traditions catering to multinational audiences commonly found in cities with rich social fabric.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This episode of Silk Road Secret Agents is dedicated to the next label release on the Discotchari label, a compilation of ‘80s and ‘90s Tehrangeles pop music produced in Los Angeles by the same artists who industrialized the “golden age” of entertainment in pre-revolution Iran. Tehrangeles Vice is a groundbreaking exposé of the vibrant subcultural hub of Tehrangeles, and the action-packed, true story of the Iranian diaspora music industry. Featuring 12 tracks remastered by award-winning Osiris Studio, lyrics and translations to all featured songs, original cassette covers, a 20+ page album note booklet by University of Toronto ethnomusicologist Dr. Farzaneh Hemmasi, and more! This compilation is proudly and fully licensed through Taraneh Enterprises, which was co-founded by Vartan Avanessian and Djahanguir Tabariai in 1982. This mix includes some songs from the upcoming Tehrangeles Vice compilation plus more selections released by the Taraneh label between 1983 and 1993. We will also give some historical analysis of the songs, taken from the Tehrangeles Vice album notes by Dr. Farzaneh Hemmasi.

Cost-effective and easy to duplicate, cassette tapes have proven to be a mighty medium capable of toppling industry via piracy and fomenting ideology through diffusion. It is a historical reality that the Iranian Revolution was fueled by cassette tapes containing speeches of Ayatollah Khomeini that were recorded in exile from France and then distributed by his followers within Iran. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, cassette tapes (and eventually CDs) became a means for Tehrangeles producers and artists to realize a successive alternative of Iranian identity that maintained pre-revolutionary values while catering to the visceral appetites of Iranian diasporas around the world and in the home nation, where Tehrangeles music was both banned by the government yet embraced by the public.

The album title Tehrangeles Vice underscores the illicit nature and daring circumstances from which Tehrangeles pop music was born and compares its legacy within Persian media to one of the most significant crime–drama TV shows of all time. In the same manner that Miami Vice and its aesthetics had a dynamic impact on sonic, visual and cultural trends in the United States and around the world, Tehrangeles media was a shock to the systems of Islamic Republic ideology and Iranian expatriate communities. Listening to these songs in hindsight, the contribution of Tehrangeles can be better understood as a triumphant effort to preserve Iranian identity by realizing it in conjunction with prevailing music genres of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and to rebel against the oppressive regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran through the most seductive of means: dance music.

Pre-order Various Artists – Tehrangeles Vice (Iranian Diaspora Pop 1983-1993) at discotchari.bandcamp.com or www.discotchari.com, available October 17th, 2025!