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Rock Ages
By Sima Saeedi
sima@tehranavenue.com
January 0
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This winter, in its first month, music lovers could tune their ears to two concerts. On the first night of the Christian year 2002, Raz'e Shab played their special brand of Rock to a huge crowd of 2000 fans. Raz'e Shab had earlier come out with their first album (Dar'e Qali) and they played with guitarist/singer Shahriar Masroor. The group's music hinges on vocals, though a strong guitar supports the penetrating lyrics.  

The rock band Pedjvak played two weeks later to a much smaller crowd (for two nights of two sessions each). Pedjvak has been around for a long time (4 years) without producing an album in Iran (2 years ago a producer took their first album abroad and released it in America). Band members have even gone on tour to the Persian Gulf island of Kish to play tunes of Joe Satriani, Carlos Santana, and Pink Floyd. Their name suggests their debt to the latter. Echos no doubt coiled endlessly in their mind's ears.  

But the concert early in the year, marks a turning point in the group's career. They have an album ready for release (Mast'o Divane) and many other projects waiting in the wings. On the night of their concert, the group was reminded by Security that they should avoid idiosyncratic moves on stage, anything that could provoke the audience dancingly.  

Music in the past two decades of the young Islamic Republic of Iran has gone through erratic stages. Considered a sign of immorality early on by the religious establishment, it was revived when the architect of the Islamic Republic supported its limited use. This went against the opinion of more conservative figures who accepted nothing short of a ban on music save for revolutionary songs and religious dirges.  

Influenced by Western pop and rock, many singers thrived in the years prior to the 1978 Revolution. Finding the situation unfavorable thereafter, pop musicians moved abroad, gathering mostly in Los Angeles, USA. They continued to compose and play music as if nothing had changed in the world around them. Their sometimes gloomy, homesick lyrics rode on a music that could only move hips on dancing floors. This apparent contradiction never registered in the ears of their listeners, who used the music as occasion to be merry while nostalgically reminding themselves of their loss in the tearwash of its lyrics.  

It was only with the end of the Iran-Iraq war that the sound of music started to be heard on the Islamic Republic Broadcasting. Persian classical singer Shahram Nazeri is credited with the Revolution's first concert. It was as if fresh air had found its way in the social milieu.  

Up until a few years ago, the space of music expanded incrementally. Classical musicians were still the only ones who had permission to play their music. But with the coming of the new administration, the whole of social space saw a marked shift in policy and outlook. Rock and pop music have now dominated the country's musical scene. There is no stopping this tide. Handful of bands are already playing music to limited audiences. Many are waiting for their turn.  

Another shift: Rock musicians are now singing their songs in Farsi, something they never imagined doing in their years of underground grind. Though the Pedjvak concert was strictly instrumental, the group has used songs of famous Iranian poets (Track 2, 3, 4 on the Concert page) like Hafez and Fereydoon Moshiri.  

These groups have just come out of their hide-out and they will continue doing so in the years to come.



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