Shomāli - Iranian Song

Music by Emad Ram, lyrics by Emad Ram (1931-2003) and Gholām Reza Sahar Kabiri (1921-2010), arrangement by Farya Faraji, vocals by Farya Faraji & Kelareh Kabiri. This is a song whose meaning is very close to my and my mother’s heart. The song is by Emad Ram, and part of the lyrics by my great-grandfather on my mother’s side, Gholām Reza Kabiri, known by his pen name “Sahar.” Emad Ram was a renowned Iranian musician, ethnically a Mazandarani like me and my mother. We Mazandaranis, alongside our closely related siblings the Gilakis and the Talysh, are Northerners. Northern Iran is a historical and geographical region defined by the usage of the Caspian languages, and a lush, green topography of deep forests, with copious rain and snowy winters. Emad Ram’s lyrics were only in Persian, the lingua franca of Iran that is the mother language of the Persian ethnicity from the south, but I figured that lyrics in a Northern language would be needed to fully convey the thematic. I t