Gingerly, Iran begins to rock out
| Tehran, Iran
By the bleak standard set by 35 years of Islamic revolution, Iranian musicians have never had it so good.聽
Lady Gaga is not about to play Tehran. But Iranian musicians say the growing openness of the past two years has now blossomed under centrist President Hassan Rouhani, enabling live performances today that would have been impossible not long ago.聽
Exhibit A is a groundbreaking聽show聽that just finished a 20-gig run in Tehran鈥檚 renowned Vahdat Hall. Redefining what is acceptable on stage, women sang solos; Western songs filled the playlist, from John Lennon to Frank Sinatra; and most lyrics were in English.
Audiences who crammed into the plush multi-story theater聽gasped聽at the spectacle, some singing quietly along as the lead female vocalist 鈥撀爓earing a maroon head scarf that fell to her waist 鈥撀燽elted out Amy Winehouse鈥檚 鈥淏ack to Black.鈥�
Called 鈥淭he Last Days of March,鈥� the hybrid theater-band act set out to test聽the聽limits聽of聽a cultural battle with conservatives who fear 鈥淲estoxicating鈥� influences on the Islamic Republic.
鈥淔rom the third night, ticket sales shot up. People were very surprised鈥e could have doubled the run,鈥� says Behrooz Saffarian, the musical director.
At 36, he is just one year older than Iran鈥檚 1979 Islamic revolution, and has witnessed the incremental improvements and setbacks that led up to this new era of openness.聽
鈥淯p to now, it is very hopeful and very positive. But how it continues is very important,鈥� says Mr. Saffarian, who has produced hit albums and pop music. 鈥淎fter 鈥楲ast Days of March,鈥� I don鈥檛 think there are serious limitations that still need to be crossed.鈥�
Headbanging in their seats
That conclusion may be premature, but today's music scene is hardly recognizable from聽from a generation ago, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the revolution,聽first told the directors of Radio Iran to battle music 鈥渨ith all your might."
鈥淢usic corrupts the minds of our youth. There is no difference between music and opium," he said.
A decade ago underground heavy metal bands rehearsed in tiny rooftop rooms padded with decibel-dampening Styrofoam and could rarely play in public.聽And in early 2008, during the first term of arch conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pop music was banned altogether.聽
Traditional Persian music has long been a partial exception, though even those聽musicians once needed permits to carry their instruments. Fifteen years ago a male vocalist at a keyboard in the resort island of Kish was still a novelty, and musicians playing weddings scoped out hiding places for their instruments in case of raids by morality police.
鈥淭hey have tried to keep us on a leash for so many years,鈥� says Babak Riahipour. He is one of Iran鈥檚 best-known bass players 鈥� but is not officially recognized as a musician because the labor ministry doesn't consider it an occupation.聽
Years ago, when heavy metal bands Mr. Riahipour played in got permits, the band members had to perform while sitting, and the audience had to headbang in their seats.
Eight years under Ahmadinejad was 鈥渓ike a prison鈥� for musicians, Riahipour says. Things began to loosen up in the final years of his presidency, as Ahmadinejad wrestled with rival conservatives.聽"They give some entertainment so people聽think they have some freedom,"聽he says.
His fianc茅e Negin Akbarpour is a singer and songwriter with a lyrical, high-pitched voice. But her studio work is still not openly available in Iran聽because of prohibitions against female singing. The two are working on demo tracks, but聽doing so is illegal, as is selling any resulting albums, they say.
Drawing a crowd
Concert permits are more readily available these days,聽though venues can be prohibitively expensive to rent.聽Potentially controversial performers like rock bands are now comfortable announcing their performances a month in advance, while previously they would give only a few hours notice to lessen the risk of the聽event being shut down by hard-line vigilantes.聽The late notice kept crowds small.聽
鈥淏efore if we said we wanted a concert for 200 people, they would laugh at us,鈥� says guitarist Amir Tehrani, who has played in heavy metal and rock bands for years, both underground and in public. 鈥淭hese days we really have shows; now there is a lot of entertainment on the stage, and lots of recording studios.鈥�
Government officials in Iran must approve all cultural output, from live performances and commercial recordings, to book, magazine and newspaper publishing. Though the musical thaw began during Ahmadinejad's time, musical director Saffarian attributes the聽current聽"rebirth" of pop music in Iran to new, more enlightened officials,聽many of whom come from the music business.聽
When the independent House of Music, which has 13,000 members and acts on behalf of musicians, complained last October about restrictions on the music industry, conservatives reacted with a slew of rulings from high-ranking religious scholars聽defending the strict rules. But days later Rouhani's聽Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati pushed back, citing聽religious scholars who said female singing was permissible if it did 鈥渘ot cause any immorality.鈥�
鈥淚t is 34 years that the music scene is experiencing a cold winter. They still believe music is [forbidden],鈥� says House of Music spokesman Dariush Pirniakan聽of authorities.聽鈥淚t is not right to ignore the crowd of people who are music listeners.鈥�
Learning curve
Some of the damage to the music industry may have been self-inflicted.聽During the Ahmadinejad era, when Iranian heavy metal and rap were pushed underground, there were no filters for quality, says Saffarian, who produced Iran's first rap album a decade ago.
Iranian rappers, for example, copied American artists, singing about jail, carrying guns, and lewd behavior 鈥� as if musicians were real gangsters. Families who listened together to the music ended up with "poisoned" opinions, he says. 聽聽
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have any standards聽[or know how] to bring music to society,"聽he explains. "In every part of the world, not to say there is censorship, but there are some filters 鈥撀燤TV uses standards,鈥� Saffarian says, referring to rules on profanity, nudity, and violence.
鈥淗ere they didn鈥檛 know what to do so everything came up鈥� and this wrecked appetite for music [that] in some quarters will take a long time to repair.鈥�
Even with the new openness,聽鈥淭he Last Days of March鈥� attracted its share of controversy. The hard-line Serat News website聽deemed the show聽un-Islamic and inaccurately claimed that well-known lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh 鈥� who was released from prison last September on charges of 鈥渁cting against national security鈥澛犫�� was invited on stage, that night鈥檚 performance dedicated to her.聽
In the past such criticism from conservative quarters meant 鈥渢he next night it would be shut down," says Saffarian. "This time, it had the full run.鈥�
