Sedākhāne Collective, Songs of Continuous Cities Folk Music from Iran and a Selection of Azerbaijani-Turkish Records, 2025

The book Songs of Continuous Cities is now published. The title refers to places whose pasts and presents are deeply intertwined—cities that carry each other’s histories and music, even when such memories may have faded within their own bounds. Echoes of their pasts, or glimpses of their futures, may already be woven into the fabric of our city today. In the archive of the Music of Continuous Cities, the most passionate, joyful, and sorrowful music remains alive, its dreams echoing into eternity.

This volume introduces the Sedākhāne Archive as one of the most colorful and extensive collections ever assembled of published folk music from Iran, spanning from the early 1950s to the late 2000s, and recounts the story of how the archive came into being. It also offers, for the first time, a historical reading of the establishment and expansion of the recording industry in Iran, and how this industry enabled the flourishing of folk-music production across different Iranian cities.

The special focus of this first Sedākhāne book is on Azerbaijani-Turkish 45rpm records from Iran, presenting a vivid catalogue of these releases. Accompanying the volume is a comprehensive index of more than 600 Azerbaijani-Turkish 45rpm records published in Iran—demonstrating how abundant, diverse, and deserving of renewed recognition and listening this musical tradition is. Two curated digital music albums accompany the book, offering an auditory portrait of the vibrant world of Azerbaijani-Turkish music production in Iran from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Songs of Continuous Cities is published in four languages—Farsi, Azerbaijani-Turkish, Arabic, and English—all bound together in a single volume, in the hope that its voices may reach listeners and readers across a wider geography.

Created in the city of Tehran through the collaboration of authors, artists, and contributors, this first volume—dedicated to the music of the Azerbaijani-Turkish cities—is designed and published in the city of Beirut by Barzakh to offer a renewed imagination of the shared memory of the Continuous Cities.