Lost recordings from pre-revolution Iran collected on vinyl for the first time

Gorgeous, eerily evocative soundtrack rescued from tape.

Co-founder of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, a collection of lost recordings by Morteza Hannaneh have been rescued from their original tapes and released on vinyl for the first time.

While very little is known about the album, Tschashm-e-Del is thought to have been recorded in pre-revolution Iran in the ’60s to be played on Radio Tehran, and remains an eerily evocative document of a bygone era.

Essential for fans of library music, soundtracks and aural oddities, as well as globe-trotting record collectors following the likes of Finders Keepers and Folkways, Tschashm-e-Del is set to a Ghazal, written by famous Iranian poet Hatef Esfehani in the 18th century.

Drawing on his experience scoring for cinema, Hannaneh synthesizes the rhythmic structure of the ancient form, stretching back to the 10th century with western orchestration to tell the story of this specific ghazal, which deals with the founding principles of Sufism and monotheism through a love story between Hatef and a Christian girl.

Limited to 500 copies you can order yours here and stream three gorgeous tracks from the collection above.