Manooghi Hi Band Info

The Musicians of Manooghi Hi

The Story of Manooghi Hi

Manooghi Hi exists as a collaboration between family, friends and international connections from a variety of backgrounds, musical and otherwise. From the day singer and Bombay, India native Mehnaz relocated to the US, she and her Northwest accomplices began constructing a new breed of rock music, mixing up rock-and-roll instrumentation and presentation with Indian scales, harmony & rhythms. The resulting musical forms are unpredictable, dynamic and undeniably compelling.
March 2009 brought Manooghi Hi’s self-titled debut release and a string of promotional events. The results of their experimental work became vividly clear at live performances where electric guitars, funky, florid keys and bass and a slamming rhythm section align with Mehnaz and Ava’s soaring vocal gymnastics that are heavily rooted in Indian tradition and intense mysticism.

Manooghi Hi

‘Seattle PI’ music critic Gene Stout describes Mehnaz as “mesmerizing and otherworldly”, while Techgnosis.com guru Erik Davis illustrates her voice as “…smoke rising from a burning ghat…” adding “Manooghi Hi has the rare sense of having found a common language that is capable of fusing and mixing very different communities of listeners while actually allowing the band to say something new and powerful…..like the globe is spinning so fast that east and west really don’t mean much anymore and everybody is coming to party.”
Jonathan Zwickel of the ‘Seattle Times’ writes this about Manooghi Hi “Suffice to say you’ve never heard anything like Manooghi Hi. Maybe because, to the best of my knowledge, their sound has never before been attempted…The cross-pollination is dizzying — East and West, ancient and modern, pop and classical, ecstatic spiritualism and headbanging rock.”

There is a sense of liberation and transcendence in this new music. It directly correlates to the artful fusion of eastern/western traditions that rests at the core of the band. Guitarist and producer Todd Foggelsonger once said, “Mehnaz isn’t trying to be a western singer, and we’re not trying to be an Indian band,” alluding to a central notion: only by retaining a spectrum of musical identities can a truthful effort can be made to coalesce these traditions into union. It is a fresh sound from an accomplished, professional outfit which delivers exciting and focused live shows, well suited to large clubs and festival audiences.

Professional History

Since Manooghi Hi’s initial performance at Seattle’s premier music venue “Triple Door” in the spring of 2007, the band has been featured on KING TV Channel 5′s “Northwest Evening Magazine”, KCPQ Q13′s “Morning Show”, Seattle Channel’s “Art Zone”, KZOK radio’s “The Bob Rivers Show”, KEXP’s local music spotlight “Audioasis” and KEXP’s online feature “Song of the Day”.
Throughout 2008-2011, Manooghi Hi has performed at multiple high-profile festivals including Seattle’s “Bumbershoot Arts Festival”, Austin’s “SXSW” music conference, “Sundance Film Festival” in Park City Utah, “Oregon Country Fair” in Eugene Oregon, Salem Oregon’s “World Music Festival” and Darrington, Washington’s “Summer Meltdown”. Manooghi Hi has played concerts for Seattle City Hall and in prestigious Northwest rock clubs including repeat performances at “Triple Door”, “Crocodile Cafe”, “Neumo’s” & “Chop Suey”. Press for Manooghi Hi has reached an international level having been notably featured in “Seattle Magazine”, “Seattle Times”, “Times of India” and recently “People” magazine in India to name a few.