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For Iranian rock musician Pooyan Ghandi, the roar of the crowd and the excitement of the live are things he can only dream of.
The 34-year-old lives in the religious city of Mashhad, where concerts have been banned for more than a decade after theocratic state leaders argued they were against Islamic teachings.
While these restrictions are rare elsewhere in Iran and Tehran, it is possible to watch live music, Ghandi and musicians like him in Iran’s holiest city spend their days composing music they are unlikely to play. to a crowd.
“There are many like me in Mashhad who are sitting in their room and working with a computer, uploading their music and posting it on audio streaming platforms,” Ghandi said from his studio in his home.
“Music in Mashhad has become [a symbol of] muscle flexion ”between reformists and strong, he added. “It is not rooted in religious beliefs because the call to prayer is music. Reciting the Qur’an is music. “
With centrist President Hassan Rouhani set to retire after two terms, leaders hope to win the presidency in a June 18 poll. Three of the seven candidates, including first leader Ebrahim Raisi, have their roots in Mashhad, home to Iran’s largest shrine, where the eighth imam of Shiite Muslims, Reza, is buried, and a stronghold for the toughest.
If the Mashhad experience is anything to go by, Raisi’s victory could indicate greater social and cultural repression. Raisi’s father-in-law, a key figure in Mashhad, is one of the most controversial clerics in the country. Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, 76, banned concerts in Mashhad and said women are not allowed to cycle in the city. The ayatollah has previously expressed concern that some Iranian women were more likely to model Sophia Loren than Fatemeh, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammad.
When Raisi ran for president four years ago, it was rumored, jokingly, that he would build walls on pavements to separate men and women. “Raisi will manage the cultural sector based on Islamic values,” said Hamid-Reza Taraghi, a hard-line politician in Mashhad, who expressed opposition to concerts that promote Western values and allow men and women to dance together. This month, her daughter told state television that her father created a women-only section at the Mashhad shrine. She, she said, would make “bridges” for men and women, not for walls.
But even if Raisi tries to replicate his father-in-law’s plan, analysts say Mashhad’s experience makes clear the difficulty of ensuring compliance even in this more conservative city.
Despite the religious ban, women can still be seen pedaling. Cafes have been opened that play recordings of Western music. Young women dress fashionably and sometimes wear the obligatory headscarves on their shoulders. Private parties are common. Leading analysts say the main difference with other big cities is that if he is arrested for drinking alcohol, he will almost certainly be sentenced to whipping with whips.
“Hardliners, if elected, may try to impose more restrictions on the cultural sector, but it is very difficult to return Iranians to the pre-internet and pre-Instagram era,” said Majid Fouladiyan, a professor of cultural sociology at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
Mashhad’s toughest restrictions have, if anything, fostered an identity of resistance in the city, he said, a vision that echoed others. Mashhad now has the most private music studios in the country, said Ali Alavi, editor of the Khorasan newspaper, a conservative Mashhad establishment. He added: “More than 40 years of government show us that the announced policies cannot be [necessarily] strongly implemented. ”
For most ordinary Iranians, the biggest concern is not moral or social issues, but the economy. “We have one of the largest economic cartels in the world in Mashhad [affiliated to the shrine] but there are people who eat bread with tomato paste in this city, ”one analyst said.
With sanctions severely affecting the economy and disillusionment, the poor could become the biggest threat to the Islamic republic, “perhaps even an existential threat,” the analyst said. The first riots against economic hardship were in 2017 and began in Mashhad, which has a population of 3 million, and “we can see signs of the uprising of the hungry and barefoot people, as a one-third of Mashhad’s population lives in slums, “he said.
For many in Mashhad, this disillusionment has fueled reluctance to vote. “I will never vote again. I haven’t been able to save a penny for the last four years, ”said Reza, a 37-year-old grocer in a grocery store. “Managers are weak and powerful or strong and powerless. Why would I make fun of myself? ”
There are still other voters who question the tougher focus on regional policies. For Cyrus Milani, a Mashhad singer and musician who, like Ghandi, also works from home, it is difficult to rationalize Iranian support in Syria and Palestine “where they have live concerts” and yet concerts are banned at home . “I’m very upset and I have little income, but I can’t do anything but make my music,” he said. “This is the first year I don’t know who is running for president and I have no plans to vote.”
Other values also matter, according to the people of Mashhad, and no less importantly, probability in public matters and equity. Not far from where Ghandi lives, a 33-story residential block is under construction by a politically connected 30-year-old man, site workers reported. Billboards in English suggest the building will have billiard and banquet rooms, as well as a spa.
For Ghandi, lack of income and performance restrictions have affected his creativity.
“We could have achieved beyond our dreams. We could have helped to promote people’s musical taste, performances and the quality of their music, ”he added. “Now we see what has happened with music, it also happens with bread and butter. When a tree [Iran] not well cared for, first the leaves [music] fall and then get closer to the roots ”.
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