(MENAFN- Arab Times) DUBAI Nov 14 (Agencies): Behzad Omrani grew up in Tehran in a house ringing to the sounds of his father's record collection mostly the twangs and twirls of American Country & Western. Years later he formed Bomrani one of the Islamic Republic's first country-blues bands and one of a handful of groups that has started disrupting the local music scene with performances a world away from Iran's traditional rhythms.
'I really like Johnny Cash Muddy Waters Bob Dylan John Denver B.B. King Gogol Bordello Eric Clapton and Roger Waters' the 29-year-old told Reuters by phone from the Iranian capital. His father brought his records back from his studies in Tennessee. Omrani's distinctive gruff voice and six-piece band had now taken those influences onto the stages of Tehran a considerable achievement in a country where some once called America the 'Great Satan'. Five-member band Pallett has been finding similar success with its jazzier fusions of clarinet cello and double bass. Pop Both bands' musical styles are a refreshing alternatives to generic pop that is breaking out in other parts of the music scene. But the subject matter of their songs is less likely to jolt traditionalists in the Islamic state. 'A Thousand Tales' one of Pallett's most popular songs is infused with imagery of soldiers and revolutionaries evoking memories of Iran's eight-year long war with Iraq. 'The brother is covered with blood. The brother will rise like the sun into a house' sings frontman Omid Nemati. Fan Sarah Nasiri said the song brought back images of her childhood. 'It brings back to life those dark years. In many ways we lost our childhood because of the war' said the young woman whose brother served in the war as a pilot. Pallett's songs pop up on Spotify and iTunes but band co-founder Rouzbeh Esfandarmaz said he does not know who is selling the royalties to use the songs or getting money from them being played. 'We get no money and we don't even know who is selling them ... Whoever it is I hope that they get what they deserve!' he joked. They have to resort to making money the old-fashioned way at home selling 60000 copies of their first CD 'Mr Violet'. The lights of Broadway are bright but they don't shine on everyone. Many of the creative forces who make the costumes lighting wigs and sets never bask in the attention or hear the roar of the crowd. They work long hours often virtually anonymously. Enter Stephen Joseph a professional photographer from California who has turned his lens on the folks who stitch knit paint sketch build and wire for Broadway shows. In a new free exhibit at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center Joseph is displaying 114 large works that capture the men and women who create the real magic. He's used some high-tech magic of his own: Each image is a set of multiple photos stitched together with Adobe Photoshop that offers a 360-degree portrait of creative people like scenic designer John Lee Beatty milliner Lynne Mackey and hair designer Tom Watson. 'These people don't get a bow. They win lots of Tonys but they don't get to be highlighted' says Joseph. 'So this is highlighting the creative people behind Broadway.' The exhibit called 'Broadway Revealed: Photographs by Stephen Joseph Behind the Theater Curtain' and running through Jan. 31 is a strangely intimate look since the works range in size from 10-by-30 inches to 24-by-72 inches. Because each image is a 360-degree view the perspective is distorted with straight lines looking curved. Only natural light was used. To create them Joseph set up a tripod with his Nikon D800 in the subject's studio and shot in a full circle over about an hour dividing the panorama into eight vertical segments. He took four or five images in each segment capturing workers moving around animals dozing and artists collaborating. 'Once the shot is taken then it's back to the computer where it's really many hours of work to slice everything together get all the light balanced and then stitch the image' says Joseph. 'It's fitting together a jigsaw puzzle.' Some of the images are designers showing off their sketches others show the same person numerous times as he or she moves around their workshops. In one Joseph captured lighting designer Brian MacDevitt inside a favorite cafe and humorously put him in 17 times at every seat and counter stool. Forget about trying to see the joints between two photos. Joseph an environmental photographer in the Bay Area is from a family of Hungarian tailors and he's fulfilling a family legacy. 'I'm doing digital stitching' he says. 'You can't see any seams.' The idea for the exhibit organized by the Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek California started as a tribute to his mom who loves Broadway. It took eight years to create during his frequent trips to New York getting workshop doors to open for his camera via word-of-mouth. Other highlights of the show include a 360-degree shot of the audience and cast at the premiere of 'American Idiot' at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in 2009 and a panorama of the inside of the Foxwoods Theatre during the creation of 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.' To add texture to the images the exhibit includes some of the work that has emerged from the workshops costumes from 'Wicked' ''Hair' ''Follies' and 'The Merchant of Venice' and footwear from 'Kinky Boots.' 'I'm trying to show behind the scenes to what it takes to create a Broadway production' Joseph says. 'To be able to document what they do is really special.'
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