Iannis Xenakis' Persepolis stood as witness to one of the most
important events in modern human history, the Iranian Revolution in
1979. Its existence is owed to an invitation to participate in the 1971
Shiraz Arts Festival, which was overseen by Empress Farah Pahlavi. Like
the Festival, and the extravagant celebratory party held the same year,
Xenakis' symbolic paean to Persian history was polarizing. Many loved
it, others detested it. Overwhelming but also subtle and precise in its
non-harmonic shifts in texture and density, listeners and critics simply
did not know what to make of it. This book tells the story of Xenakis'
early history and involvement in the Resistance against the Axis
occupation of Greece during the Second World War, escape and
re-settlement in Paris, work as an architect with Le Corbusier, and
distinct views on world history and politics that all led to his 1972
electro-acoustic album Persepolis.