Persian pop blends Western pop and Iranian classical melody: orchestral or electric arrangements overlaid with Persian ornamentation (including quarter-tones) and richly inflected, emotive singing. Tempos range widely, from sweet love songs to aching ballads, with Western polish and Persian melodic beauty side by side.

It flourished in 1970s Tehran alongside the television, radio and film industries, against the backdrop of rapid Westernization under the Pahlavi monarchy. Stars like Googoosh kept a Persian melodic sensibility while absorbing Western pop, winning huge national popularity. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the new government banned pop music and women's solo singing, and many singers went into exile.

Listen for the quarter-tones and Persian modal ornaments that surface inside otherwise Western arrangements. The fine quaver and slide of the singers' voices carry the tradition of Persian classical vocal art.

Hayedeh's 'Soghati' (1977) is a beautiful, emotionally charged ballad and an easy way in.

Googoosh, the era's biggest star, was forbidden to sing in Iran for over twenty years after the revolution; she finally left the country and resumed her career in 2000 — her very silence became legendary.