For more than nine months, musician and composer Mehdi Rajabian kept himself hidden away in an underground room in Sari, northern Iran, working to create his latest album undercover.
While many artists will tell you they pour blood, sweat and tears into their art, this is much more than just a throwaway phrase for Rajabian.
He has already served more than two years in prison for making music the Iranian authorities did not agree with, including a period of solitary confinement and a hunger strike, but is undeterred – despite the very real threat of more jail time. No power, he says, can stop the “freedom and thought of music”.
Image: Rajabian has collaborated online with singers and musicians from around the world to make the record. Pic: Barg Music
So despite his limitations and the danger he faces in a country where art is heavily censored, the 31-year-old recorded his second album, Coup Of Gods, in a secret basement, patiently dealing with the challenges of keeping hidden, plus low-speed internet, to connect with other musicians from all over the world.
The album includes tracks featuring an orchestra from Brazil, and singers and musicians from everywhere from the US to Italy to Russia. It has been mastered by record producer and songwriter Harvey Mason Jr, who has worked on tracks by stars including Beyonce, Britney Spears, John Legend and Justin Timberlake, and became chief executive of the Recording Academy (which runs the Grammy Awards) earlier in 2021.
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Rajabian approached Mason on email and the Grammys boss tells Sky News he was at first “blown away by his story” but ultimately the music had to be good enough. “For me it all came down to what came out of the speakers,” he says. “The music was beautiful, compelling and so well done. In my mind, it is true art.”
Rajabian, also corresponding with Sky News over email, says he is proud of the album and thinks it has “come out really strong”, despite “all the complications” he has had to overcome.
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“In Iran, women can’t sing and it’s prohibited,” he says. “Even I got arrested a few months back for finishing an album having female voices. Prison and prohibition have caused Iranian artists to be afraid to be in my album.”
Rajabian is all too aware of the horrors he could face should he be jailed again. In 2013, he spent three months in solitary confinement for propaganda against the state. Solitary confinement “kills the human soul,” he says. “You are no longer a normal human being afterwards.”
Image: Producer and songwriter Harvey Mason Jr, who is releasing the album through his label, says he believes it is “true art”. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
From 2015, following what Amnesty International described as a “blatantly unfair” trial, he served two years in prison until he was released after a 40-day hunger strike. “Solitary kills the soul and the hunger strike kills the body”, he says, describing it as “like eating your own flesh” because of the damage inflicted. “I lost 15kg of weight and 40% of my vision.”
The musician was arrested again in 2020, for his first album and for working with female dancers and singers, and again, he says, because of his new album earlier this year. He is currently in the midst of a three-year suspended sentence, which could be activated at any time.
Rajabian spent his time behind bars at Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. “It can be said that it is one of the most horrible prisons in the world,” he says. “I spent several months in a Somali pirate cell as a punishment. Prison is a difficult place to live, but what matters is how much you believe in your own thought and philosophy of work; the more you believe, the easier it is for you to overcome difficulties.”
After his arrest, his office was closed and his recordings and hard drives seized. He spent his “whole life” while making the album in his underground room, alone. But he is determined.
“A few months back, I was arrested by the Iranian regime,” he says. “Handcuffed in a court, they asked to seize the project, and [ordered me to] stop making music. But I stated to the judge that even if this means I’m going back to jail, I’ll get my work done. I do not think about the consequences of producing a work of art and I am ready for any consequences. They can imprison me again. I [will] also write music in prison, as I wrote before. Music will not stop under any circumstances.”
The hunger strike left Rajabian with incredibly swollen joints, meaning he can no longer play an instrument himself. So he composed and arranged the album working alongside collaborators including US singers Lizzy O’Very and Aubrey Johnson and musicians such as violinists Yury Revich and Emmanuele Baldini, cellist Rafael Cesario, duduk player Soroosh Nematollahi and sarangi player Vanraj Shastri. His underground room has now been cleared, to remove all trace of his work, and the album is ready to go.
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A teaser for Iranian composer Mehdi Rajabian’s new record, Coup Of Gods.
The first track, Whip On A Lifeless Body, is his most personal. “This piece is the narrator of a human body that no longer has a physical presence,” he says. “The feeling is for the time when I was on a hunger strike, between earth and sky, between life and death, between the living and the dead… on the 29th day of the hunger strike, I opened my eyes that morning and I did not know whether I was alive or dead, on earth or in heaven. I was in a trance. It was a strange feeling.”
Making music, or the type of music Rajabian wants to make, is clearly a dangerous business in Iran. Many would ask why he continues. “Forbidding music for me means sewing my lips,” he says. “I cannot be silent. In the time of oppression, silence means betrayal. Prohibition of art means prohibition of truth and suppression of consciousness. So I have to believe in the freedom of music, even if I go to prison again for it.”
The release comes just weeks after the Taliban’s takeover of bordering Afghanistan, where concerns have been raised for musicians and artists and how their work may be censored. Rajabian says he knows too well the mentality of the country’s new rulers.
“There is only one question for me: how can we as artists express our pain to the world with the language of art, when these kind of painful images are sent to the world from Iran and Afghanistan? As artists, our work has become difficult, because feelings, sadness, surprise and pain are no longer effective.
“The world is no longer amazed by any sound or image; humanity has seen everything that exists. That is why humanity is moving towards fun and entertainment with art. Philosophical, protest and poetic art no longer has a place. Humanity shuns philosophical and painful art because humanity wants to get away from these pains. And that makes it difficult for us.”
Rajabian says that despite everything, hope keeps him alive, “even though I know we have a difficult future ahead of us”.
He continues: “After every darkness there is a light. Finally, I am optimistic about the future.”
Coup Of Gods by Mehdi Rajabian will be released on streaming platforms by Mason’s label Hundredup on 17 September
Former London’s Burning actor John Alford has been found guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15 at a friend’s home.
Jurors heard the 53-year-old, who rose to fame in BBC show Grange Hill, sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk following a night out at the pub.
St Albans Crown Court was told he bought £250 worth of food, alcohol and cigarettes from a nearby petrol station in the early hours of the morning, including a bottle of vodka which the victims subsequently drank.
Alford then had sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old girl in the garden of the home and later in a downstairs toilet, and inappropriately touched the 15-year-old girl as she lay half asleep on the living room sofa.
He denied four counts of sexual activity with the younger girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to the second teenager at a property in Hertfordshire on April 9 2022.
But, after 13 hours of deliberations, he was found guilty.
Image: As a firefighter in one of his most famous roles. File pic: PA
Alford, of Holloway, north London, who was charged under his real name John Shannon, had previously told the court the allegations were a “set-up”.
He put his head in his hand and shouted “Wrong, I didn’t do this” from the dock as the verdicts were read out in court.
‘I didn’t want sex with an old man’
During the week-long trial, Alford, who cried while giving evidence, told jurors “I never touched either of them girls”, adding there was “no DNA” evidence and that he would stand by his denial “until the day I die”.
However, the 15-year-old girl said: “We were all just like dozing off. That was when John started to touch me.”
Asked how she felt after the assault, the girl said: “Sick. I felt absolutely sick. I wasn’t going to tell anyone.”
In a video of her police interview played to the court, the 14-year-old girl said she had never had sex before the night of the alleged incidents.
“I told him to stop because I didn’t want to have sex with an old man,” she said.
Legendary fashion designer Giorgio Armani has died aged 91 – with the worlds of fashion and showbiz paying tribute to a “giant” and a “master of his craft”.
The Italian billionaire died at home surrounded by his family on Thursday.
“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” his fashion house said.
“Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones.
“Indefatigable to the end, he worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections, and the many ongoing and future projects.”
A funeral chamber will be set up at Milan’s Armani Teatro for people to pay tribute between 9am and 6pm this weekend.
Image: At the end of his autumn-winter show at Milan Fashion Week in January this year. Pic: Reuters
Armani did not appear at his runway shows in Milan for the first time ever in June as he recovered from an unknown illness.
Only a week ago, when he was interviewed by the Financial Times, he revealed he “oversaw every aspect of the show remotely via video link”.
“My greatest weakness is that I am in control of everything,” he told the newspaper. “Everything you will see has been done under my direction and carries my approval.”
‘A symbol of the best of Italy’
Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni was among the first to pay tribute.
“Giorgio Armani leaves us at 91 years old,” she wrote on X.
“With his elegance, sobriety, and creativity, he was able to bring lustre to Italian fashion and inspire the entire world. An icon, a tireless worker, a symbol of the best of Italy. Thank you for everything.”
Image: At the Royal Academy in London in 2003. Pic: Reuters
Fellow fashion mogul Donatella Versace followed, saying: “The world has lost a giant today. He made history and will be remembered forever.”
American designer Ralph Laurensaid he “always had the deepest respect and admiration” for Armani.
Dame Anna Wintour, who this year stepped down as head of American Vogue after 37 years, said the designer “understood power and attitude and elegance as well as anyone ever has in fashion”.
Julia Roberts, who famously wore Armani menswear to the Golden Globe awards in 1990, shared a picture of the pair together on Instagram with the caption: “A true friend. A Legend.”
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American modelCindy Crawfordcalled him a “master of his craft” – while the Italian football world also offered its condolences.
Juventus described him as a “timeless icon of elegance and Italian style”.
Inter Milan, who Armani supported, said he was “an icon of our city, a fashion legend who, with his creativity and elegance, knew how to tell the story of Italianness around the world”.
Legendary film director Martin Scorsese also paid tribute, heralding Armani as “more than a clothing designer”.
“He was a real artist, and a great one – people use the term ‘timeless’ quite often, but in his case it happens to be true,” said Scorsese.
Armani contributed to the wardrobe design for the director’s 1995 film Casino, creating suits for Robert De Niro’s character, Ace Rothstein.
The pair came together again for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), where Armani this time suited up Leonardo DiCaprio.
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6:28
‘Colossus’ Armani ‘brought gravitas’ to the fashion industry
‘King Giorgio’
Born in the small northern Italian town of Piacenza in July 1934, Armani originally wanted to be a doctor but changed his mind after a part-time job as a window dresser at a Milan store exposed him to fashion for the first time.
As one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, he is often credited with spearheading red carpet fashion and was planning a major event during Milan Fashion Week this month to mark 50 years of his brand.
He put Italian ready-to-wear style on the map in the late 1970s with his signature ‘Armani suit’ before adapting its classic style for women with the launch of the female ‘power suit’ in the 1980s.
He also dressed Hollywood and music stars, including Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Lady Gaga.
Image: With actors Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton in 2003. Pic: Reuters
Image: With Robert De Niro in Milan in 2000. Pic: Reuters
Image: With singer Beyonce in 2003. Pic: Reuters
Image: With David Beckham in Milan in 2009. Pic: Reuters
Armani, or Re Giorgio (King Giorgio) as he was widely known, worked on more than 200 films, most notably earlier in his career on American Gigolo with Richard Gere in 1980.
He was awarded both the French Legion of Honour and Italian Order of Merit for Labour for his contributions to the fashion industry.
With an empire of more than £7.44bn at the time of his death, his work expanded beyond clothes to home furnishings, perfumes, books, flowers, bars, clubs, and restaurants.
He also owned the basketball team EA7 Armani Milan, better known as Olympia Milano.
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Armani sparked controversy in 2015 for comments he made about fashion choices among gay men – and previously in 2009 when his company was forced to settle with the Italian tax authorities over its offshore subsidiaries.
A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen” has officially pleaded guilty to selling Friends star Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.
Jasveen Sangha initially denied the charges but agreed to change her plea in a signed statement in August, just a few weeks before she had been due to stand trial.
The 42-year-old , a dual citizen of the US and the UK, has now appeared in a federal court in Los Angeles to plead guilty to five charges, including supplying the ketamine that led to Perry‘s death.
She faces up to 65 years in prison after admitting one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
Prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts related to the distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine that was unrelated to the Perry case.
In a brief statement when the plea deal was announced, her lawyer Mark Geragos said she was “taking responsibility for her actions”.
The judge is not bound to follow any terms of the plea agreement, but prosecutors have said they will ask for less than the maximum possible sentence.
Perry died aged 54 in October 2023. He had struggled with addiction for years, but released a memoir a year before his death during a period of being clean.
He had been using ketamine through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, but in the weeks before his death had also started to seek more of the drug illegally.
Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 (£4,458) in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.
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3:42
What Perry’s death says about Hollywood
Sangha, described by prosecutors as the “Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood”, is now the fifth and final person to plead guilty to charges connected to the supply of drugs to the Friendsstar.
The actor’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, an acquaintance Erik Fleming, and a physician, Mark Chavez, all agreed to plead guilty when the charges were announced in August 2024.
Another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, initially pleaded not guilty and had been due to face trial alongside Sangha, but changed his plea in July.
Sangha and Plasencia had been the primary targets of the investigation.
The three other defendants: Chavez, Iwamasa and Fleming pleaded guilty in exchange for their co-operation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
Perry had bought ketamine from Sangha after he was led to her by Fleming, prosecutors said.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to Sangha’s indictment.
Sangha is due to be sentenced on 10 December.
The other four defendants are also still awaiting sentencing.
Perry was one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing in Friends – which ran on NBC between 1994 and 2004.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for all 10 seasons of the show.
The Friends stars were among around 20 mourners who attended his funeral in November 2023, according to TMZ.