Omid Djalili's My World interview: “In general, there’s something very coquettish about Persian music… flirty moves and dances and pauses”

Omid Djalili is one of those personalities who everyone has probably seen in something. Whether it be in stand-up comedy, film, television or theatre, the British Iranian has had a tremendously versatile career. Regularly appearing in Hollywood blockbusters, on British television or performing in sell-out West End musicals and comedy shows, Djalili has rarely been out of work. A life-long Bahá’í, he continues to raise awareness for human rights, using his high profile to draw attention to women’s inequality and religious inequality in Iran. The road to this tremendous success, however, hasn’t always been smooth and there have been a few false starts, including a brief period as a musician…

OK, it only lasted two gigs, but as a young man, this West Londoner played with the emerging jazz musician Courtney Pine. Djalili – a conga player – laughingly describes the band’s reaction to Pine’s brief dalliance – and quick exit from the band thus: “…we want you [Courtney] to know, if you leave our band, you ain’t never coming back. We’re going to find another saxophonist, and [we] bet he’ll be ten times better than you.” Needless to say, the threat was ignored and Courtney Pine went on to forge his own international career. The point of this story however is two-fold; firstly it illustrates Djalili’s tenacity, yet to find his own performing voice, but pushing on regardless. Secondly, the fact that despite his jokey persona, he is deeply musical – and music has shaped his character and performance. So how did his musical journey begin and what was he listening to as a child?

“In the 1970s there was a prog rock band called Camel [who] we primary school kids thought were the greatest prog rock band in the world.” Djalili, who was born in 1965, also mentions Supertramp and Pink Floyd’s iconic album The Wall as influential markers.

This early soundscape also included the Latin rock band Santana and, knowing Djalili’s musical inclinations, his identifying with Santana’s mix of muscular guitar, strong syncopated rhythms and catchy melody makes sense. Djalili is a percussionist who likes to play with his hands (as opposed to sticks) and this author has seen him play djembé and doumbek (Arabic goblet drum) with a powerful force. Where did this ability come from? “I didn’t have any official teaching but the hand stuff and the fingers stuff was taught to me by a couple of Iranians who were very adept; [they] weren’t professional musicians, but they taught me some basics. I did go for one day to the Brazilian Samba School… and learn(ed) some basic rhythms and they said ‘you got it man! You don’t need no lessons or anything!’ I was encouraged.”

Encouragement is one thing, but this doesn’t touch on the epiphanic moment – that point at which many performers suddenly experience a revelation – sensing that a life in the arts is probably their destiny. For Djalili, this happened when he was listening to Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life; “There was one song called ‘As’… and I was playing drums along [to it] when I was about 13… I remember thinking ‘I have reached something divine’ because everything I was playing was fitting so well with the music… and when I opened my eyes my whole family were watching me; they could see I was at one with the music… and they knew [I was] going to go into the arts at that moment.”

Djalili’s parents came to London from Iran and so Omid grew up absorbing a mix of British and Persian cultures and their idiosyncrasies. “With music and performance in general, there’s something very coquettish about Persian music… It’s all about the look – there’s lots of suggestive looks… and you know British 1960s tit-and-bum comedy? That is all about British repression… it’s the same in Persian culture because we have this repressive background… it comes up in coquettish and flirty moves and dances and pauses in their music as well.” And when he uses Persian music in his projects, where does he get it from?

“Of late I would say social media… I follow a lot of accounts inside Iran and a lot of the diaspora, so I’m aware of it all… I follow certain musicians, I’m actually up to date with whatever’s trending… When I was younger, it was my father, my mother, my uncle and certain friends [who guided me] but I would say the last four years it’s been totally Instagram… you get to see what the people inside Iran are listening to… There is one musician who I absolutely love called Sami Yusuf who’s got about four-million followers. He lives outside Iran and… he’s absolutely first class… Iran has many different ethnic backgrounds [and] he represents all those, so as well as Persian he’ll sing in certain languages of the area – there’s certain local dialects… I would say he’s one of our most respected musicians.”

Although Djalili hasn’t specifically used live musicians in his comedy shows, music is nevertheless an important part of his creative thinking and he gives careful thought to how it can be included. “It’s very important… When I first started using music… if people laughed at a silly joke, I would reward them with fast upbeat, Middle Eastern joyful music, so you’re actually infusing some joy into the proceedings… any piece of music has to be one that I love and energises me because a lot of comedy is about energy.”

Is this energy required in other parts of his life? What would be Omid’s energetic or uplifting piece on an ordinary day? “There’s a song by will.i.am called ‘Smile Mona Lisa’. there’s something about the vibe… when I first heard it, I listened to it ten times in a row…” The cheeky combination of the Latin jazz standard ‘Black Orpheus’ and will.i.am’s words and accompaniment fuse together the kind of tone colours that Djalili loves, as with another favourite of his, Camilla Cabello’s ‘Havana’ mashed-up with ‘Smooth’ by Santana.

Repeated, in-depth listening is something Djalili admits to (driving his family mad in the process, he says) and this applies as much to contemplative listening as well as upbeat tracks. Apart from the quieter moments of Camel, Djalili enjoys Gabriel Fauré’s ‘Pavane’; “I love classical music… lots of great music was created in this time when they put in (specific) musical boundaries… within life – within art actually – that’s when the art can grow. I actually talk about that in my latest show, and I tell the audience what those boundaries are. And then when you put the boundaries in, the laughs are actually bigger and better. Then the audience is on the journey with you.”

Taking the audience with him is of course profoundly important; Djalili’s mission is to create performance that encompasses unity in diversity, elevation in laughter and the energy of creativity.

Omid Djalili is touring his latest show, Namaste, in the US, October 3-6, and then throughout the UK from October 10 and into 2025

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue, read the magazine online – subscribe today: magsubscriptions.com