Beverly Hills, CA, November 10, 2008 — The World Academy of
Arts, Literature & Media - WAALM® honored KIOSK with Best Blues
Band of 2008 during their 3rd annual awards ceremony on Friday, October
31, 2008 in London. WAALM® develops and promotes the dramatic and fine
arts, creative writing and poetry, as well as professional journalism
and media productions. WAALM® regularly identifies and rewards
excellence, inspires practitioners, and benefits the public, by means
of awarding event.

Other awards recipients in the music category included: Prof. Cyrus
Forough, USA - Best Classical Music – Violinist, Prof. Reza Najfar,
Austria - Best Classical Music - Flutist, Mahasti Kamdar, Germany -
Best Arrangements for String, Sima Bina, Germany - Best Folk Vocalist,
Martik, USA - Best Contemporary Pop, Abjeez, Sweden, Best World Pop and
Dastan, Iran - Best Persian Classic Ensemble.

KIOSK is known as an Iranian Blues/Rock/Jazz band, established by a few
friends in a basement in Iran, now all living abroad. The band members
are Arash Sobhani (guitar & vocals), Ali Kamali (bass guitar),
Ardalan Payvar (keyboards), Babak Khiavchi (guitar), Shahrouz Molaei
(drums). KIOSK is often noted for its biting critical social and
political, but humorous lyrics.

KIOSK’s highly-anticipated third studio album, “Bagh eVahsh e Jahani”
(Global Zoo) is set to release on November 14, 2008. The new album
features ten tracks varying in music style from Gypsy Jazz to Waltz and
from Argentinean Tango to Blues. Although the music of the album is a
big departure from the Underground Blues/Rock sound of the previous two

KIOSK albums, the lyrics of Arash Sobhani (lead vocalist , songwriter
and guitarist) continues the social commentary on a wide variety of
issues affecting the daily lives of Iranians all over the world.

With the release of their third album, KIOSK is also launching their North American “Global Zoo” tour, as follows:

November 14, 2008 San Francisco, CA Mezzanine (with special guest Babak Amini)

November 16, 2008 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre (with special guest Babak Amini)

November 28, 2008 Seattle, WA Neumos

November 30, 2008 Vancouver, Canada Richards on Richards

To learn more about WAALM®, please visit www.waalmawards.com.

About WAALM

The WAALM Academy® was founded by Prof. Dorbayani, PhD and his spouse
Marjan Abdi, PhD in April 2005 as an extension of IFSI Institute, which
was formed by them in 1990. The first two WAALM Awards® were conducted
in October 2005 and 2006 in Budapest, Hungary - European Union in which
more than 50 awardees in categories of art, music, literature, and
media were honored. WAALM® became an independent awarding body in 2007
and confers Persian Golden Lioness Awards (Statuettes OR Diploma and
Medals of Excellence) to the most outstanding and extraordinary talents
and professionals. For more info visit: www.waalmawards.com.