“The Islamic Republic is often mistakenly stereotyped in the West as being against music. Apart from the early years after the 1979 revolution, this isn’t true, and the return to Persian roots that was also a part of the revolutionary movement has resulted in a revival of classical Iranian music — Shajarian, Nazeri, Hossein Alizadeh and Kayhan Kalhor are all proof of that. And some of these musicians have been vocal in their opposition to the policies of the regime. The CD was compiled in a cooperation between the Iranian music organisation Tehran Avenue and the United Kingdom-based centre for alternative Iranian music, Bar-Ax.The tracks appear under a Creative Commons licence, which means that you can help Iranian musicians by sharing the tracks of the album with friends. “Music and culture are close to the frontline in Iran — we must pay attention to what happens,” writes Simon Broughton. |
“All the bands on this CD are working in Iran, but this music can’t be sold in shops or be officially performed,” writes Songlines. |
Listen Songlines editor-in-chief, Simon Broughton, plays an extract from the CD album ‘Iranian Underground’ – 16 March 2010: Songlines Podcast [View in iTunes] |
Read Songlines no 67 in digital version – 16 March 2010: songlines.co.uk/interactive/067 |
Dig deeper Google News – continuously updated: Search: ‘Iran’ + ‘music’ + ‘underground’ TheWorld.org / BBC – 20 April 2010: ‘Iran’s underground music scene’ |
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