When I was in Iran, I spent a lot of time with the members of Farzad Golpayegani’s extended prog metal family, in particular his self-described “heavy metal percussionist” Arash Jafari, who was my Virgil through Tehran’s underworld. Farzad has developed a precise, intellectual style of progressive metal that hints at Secret Machine and Mars Volta, but ultimately transcends them.

I shouldn’t need to mention how difficult it is for Farzad to carve out some artistic space for himself in Iran; musicians who don’t fit the bill as either “classical” or “traditional” are asking for trouble, and Farzad has of course found it. Visit Farzad’s site here; there are several demos of his new record Three, which he has spent the past three years (hence the title) working on. Because of the almost mathematical precision involved in Farzad’s music, he gives his tracks numerical assignations, which to my mind adds somewhat to the mystery encoded in his work.

Everything’s bigger in Dubai, even me. Er, by that, I refer you to this profile that was published in Dubai Time Out, covering Ja, No, Man! and some aspects of the work in progress.

I recently experienced a thrill that probably only resonates with South Africans who received the 702 AM frequency, beamed in from charming Bophuthatswana (a Bantustan/Banana Republic invented by the Powers-that-were) during the 80s. John Berks, who anchored the morning show on 702, a man I listened to on my way to school for many of my teenage years, has relocated to West Jerusalem. Issy Kirsh, who set up 702 as an alternative voice to the line-toeing SABC, is trying to do something similar with RAM 93.6 - the ‘official English voice of Ramallah’. Berks had me on the show and grilled me, old-skool style, for 30 minutes, no breaks - a throwback to days of yore when talk radio wasn’t a bit of chatter interrupted by throws to commercial. Always a bit of a thrill coming mic to mic with an icon from one’s past.