Silence of the Strings

As I am writing this, global tensions are going through the roof! Bombs were falling in the Middle East from both sides, from Israel to Iran, and at any peripheral military bases within reach. These are some crazy times we’re living in, and the future is getting pretty darn hair-raising.  With that said, I thought it would be interesting to delve a bit into Iran’s past with its music scene and culture.  Iran is a mosaic blending of political ideologies, cultural identities, as well as the overall religious doctrine that overshadows the country, creating an enormous battlefield for its music scene. From the Pahlavi dynasty’s efforts to modernize Iran, to the crazy strictness and theocratic rulings of the powerful bodies within the Islamic Republic, the vacillation of music’s role between state-sponsored promotion to outright prohibition is mind-numbing. For this post, we will take a deeper look into Iran’s evolution of music censorship and trace the course of this beast from Mohammad Reza Shah’s reign to the Ayatollah’s Islamic Republic.

A Look into The Pahlavi Era: Modernization and Westernization

Culturally, Iran has long been steeped in traditional Persian music under the Shahs, but it wasn’t until Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s reign (1941-1979) that Iran underwent a rapid step forward in modernization and Westernization.  The promotion of Western music from jazz and pop to classical music was encouraged by the state and elites.  This opened up the Iranian culture to Western ideals, and institutions like the Tehran Conservatory of Music were established, thus European music instructors ventured into the country and taught music, alongside the teachings of traditional Persian music.

All of this looks good on the surface, but music wasn’t entirely a free thing back then.  Looking back to the 1930s, when the Iranian government started regulating music, especially targeting recordings with a communist bent to them, things got more dicey, and restrictive, and by 1931 when the government started clamping down on gramophone records, which were politically subversive in their lyrics, this led to an all-out ban. In a move to control musical content, the hammer came down on the recording industry, and it was put under the watchful eye and supervision of the Ministry of Interior. Big Brother, if you will, Persian style.

Cultural Purge and The Islamic Revolution

When the Islamic Revolution hit Iran in 1979, it was like a 9.5 earthquake rocked the Persian world.  The cultural landscape was decimated in its wake, and a new Islamic regime under Ayatollah Khomeini was in full effect! His regime viewed Iran’s pre-revolutionary culture, including music, as anathema. They saw the ‘Western influence’ as a morally corrupting cancer that needed to be burned, excised. They also viewed Western music as a wicked tool, an opioid upon the masses, that seduced and distracted the populace, softening their minds, inhibiting religious devotion and adherence to the state. Also, at this time, the hijab was imposed on the female population, and the “Paris of the Middle East” had finally, bitterly succumbed.

When the dust finally had settled, the aftermath of the revolution was dark and bleak; most forms of music had been outright banned. In other words, the lights went out, and the party was over. Concerts and venues were canceled or closed, and music schools were shut down.  The oppression was so nasty that musicians fled the country. As the velvet glove came off the iron fist, the Ministry of Cultural and Islamic Guidance (Ershad) took precedence in establishing its authority, and strapping on its boots, it went into effect regulating all cultural productions, including music.

Now that’s just a glance at what went down, but moving forward, let’s take a look at the post-revolutionary periods. There were many shifting boundaries.

1980s-1990s: Strict Control and the Underground Resistance Movement

Throughout the 1980s, the Ayatollah Khomeini regime maintained a hardline stance on the music scene. Most genres of Western music were outright banned. Rock ‘n roll, pop, soul, R&B, and hip-hop were viewed as seditious symbols of American imperialism. Only traditional and religious forms of music were permitted.  Regardless of these draconian rules and laws, Iran had an underground music scene that thrived.  Clandestinely, artists were recording and distributing their music through hypogean channels.