According to Kaveh Akbar, author of Martyr!, music has always been a way of falling in love. “Growing up, I fell half in love with practically everyone I met, and my go-to love language was the mixtape,” says Kaveh. “I can’t tell you how many countless dozens of casual acquaintances, classmates, baristas, etc, I creeped out by handing unexpected and frankly unwanted custom mix CDs. Moderation has never been my strong suit.”
Martyr! – which Dua has chosen as her Monthly Read for September – follows Cyrus Shams as he searches for meaning, connection and a way to make sense of the drama unfolding around him. For this playlist, Akbar has drawn together songs that feel like they belong to the same story – including several that are directly referenced in his novel.
“With this mix, I tried to make something cohesive that worked as a single beginning-to-end listening experience, not just a collection of discrete songs I like. Martyr! expressly meditates on a few of these (Didn’t Cha Know, Tell Me, Cotton Crown), so they felt like natural inclusions. The others are pieces I hear cutting the air as everyone in the book attends to their various crises.”
Press play below to enter the world of Martyr! through the songs that helped soundtrack it.
What’s On Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! Playlist
We Made It To The Underpass by Ganavya
When The Night Calls... by Blood Cultures
Didn’t Cha Know by Erykah Badu
An Easy Place Pt. 1 by Liam The Younger
In My Room by Frank Ocean
Gole Yakh by Kourosh Yaghmaei
Louis by Laura Gibson
Cotton Crown by Sonic Youth
Tell Me by The Rolling Stones
I’m Yr Here-I-Am by Diane Cluck
Awesome by The Bloody Beetroots, Feat. The Cool Kids
Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Nirvana (from the MTV Unplugged In New York album)
Worthless Animal by Deafheaven
My Life by Iris DeMent
There’s More – Delve Deeper Into Martyr! With The Service95 Book Club...
WATCH Dua’s interview with its author Kaveh Akbar
READ five books that inspired Kaveh Akbar to write Martyr!
DISCOVER the true story of Iran Air Flight 655 – an event that plays a pivotal role within the book
EXPLORE an essay exploring how history an inheritance can live on through art
BOOKMARK ten titles to read when you’re having an existential crisis
