With 15 years of music under his belt, Amir Shahab, aged 31, is an old hand. Right now, social media is the only showcase for Iranian rock: “As none of our musicians appear on TV, nobody knows we exist,” regrets Salman Kerdar, head of the Khosh Honar music academy. "The judge told me I was charged with publishing a woman singing and a woman dancing in my latest project, which 'causes society to go into prostitution'," Mr Rajabian said. Forbidden to perform in public, many female dancers in Iran use their social media accounts as a type of virtual stage. Last year, a popular social media movement called #dancingisnotacrime went viral, in protest of government censorship. This tall, 36-year-old bearded man was drawn into the world of rock and metal when he was a teenager. Censorship affects not just literature, music and film. It's funny, but a big pain for us," Ms Kafasha told the ABC. “If they lived in Iran, none of the international groups of today would have had the strength to carry on working, because the conditions here are so difficult. "I feel it is my goal in life to express our history, our culture, our joys and our struggles through this beautiful art form.". "We're not free to do what we want, and we always have to present ourselves in a really restricted frame.". “Every time a rock or metal gig has been cancelled for crossing the red lines, at least 20 other gigs have been cancelled or banned afterwards,” he notes. The courses are designed in line with international teaching methods and can be taken online, which means that musicians living in the provinces can also follow them. – what happens when a grassroots, international creators’ movement and a traditional trade union join forces? After the Islamic revolution in 1979, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, also known as the Ershad, came into existence to control all cultural activities in the country. Between censorship and a burgeoning music scene, Iranian rockers are trying to keep to tempo From left to right, Shirin Vaezi, Amir Kharrazi and Amir Shahab, from the group AtriA, after a re-hearsal in their private studio, on 15 September 2018 in Tehran. My song failed to obtain the necessary authorisations, as it was, apparently, too close a reflection of the current situation,” he explains. "Persian dance connects me to the core of my soul, my culture and my people," she said. Composer Mehdi Rajabian has been dragged before an Iranian Revolutionary Court for the third time in his career under an obscure law that forbids "crimes against public moral". At Café Blues, in central Tehran, not far from the old American embassy, there is music on all the time. Many in the West equate Middle Eastern music with the folklore of "A Thousand and One Nights". Ms Bandeh now lives with her husband and children outside of Iran, where she continues to perform and teach. We would find cassettes and would come by a metal magazine from time to time. Ms Bandeh spent six years teaching Persian classical dance both in Iran and abroad until, despite holding a permit, she was arrested last year. "We are born into censorship. Every event requires a permit from the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, which also has the authority to intervene and cancel anything deemed immoral, according to the Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Yet many Iranians felt dance was a part of their culture, she said, including dancing at weddings and private parties. For him, it is the anti-establishment ideology behind rock that the authorities fear: “Unlike those who go to pop concerts, rock fans are more intellectual, there is a line of thought, and that scares them.”, Khorrami, meanwhile, explains that he has been teaching electric guitar for 10 years, and that 95 per cent of rock and metal musicians in Iran earn their living by teaching. Sometimes we were able to get hold of video cassettes, for example, and that’s how we saw a clip of Iron Maiden for the first time,” he reminisces. I did that for a few years until I decided to quit my job to pursue my true passion,” she recalls. Ultimately the goal is important.". In September 2017, they shared a stage with Finnish metal group Kalmah, in Dubai. The combination of cultural heritage with hip-hop, rap and rock music is typical of the (underground) music scene in Iran. 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In Iran, we don’t really have a team spirit,” regrets Shahab. Nevertheless, despite all the measures designed to stifle music, it could not be eliminated from … Still, here I am; a dancer, a criminal.". Mr Taheri cited numerous cases of performers sentenced to prison terms and/or lashes, including 15 women and men in 2018 imprisoned for alleged "participation in the production of 'vulgar' music and images and its dissemination through anti-regime satellite networks". Moreover, as Kerdar points out, “rock uses a raw language” and any societal issue in the Islamic Republic touches on politics. Share: As part of IMP and ASL19’s continuing coverage of media policy in Iran, musician Shahin Najafi sat down with ASL19 for an interview about music and censorship in Iran.. Shahin Najafi is an Iranian rap star that recently came out of hiding after the Islamic Republic of Iran placed a fatwa, or religious edict, with a bounty of $100,000 for his life. Anything cultural or artistic … The report traces the gradual imposition of music censorship since 1978, when the communist government of Nur Ahmad Taraki came to power in a violent coup d’etat. Iran is not a free society, but many aspects of life in Tehran are far less conservative than you might think. But for Ms Bandeh, dancing has been her lifelong passion and she has no intention of stopping. In 2015, Mr Rajabian said he was again imprisoned, this time for two years during which he went on a hunger strike for 40 days. The movement was sparked after 17-year-old Maedeh Hojabri confessed to crimes on Iranian state TV when authorities clamped down on her Instagram account, where she had posted videos of herself dancing without a head covering. Iran’s Cyber Police unit (FATA), tasked with fighting “digital criminals”, is the most notorious. The school is unique in that, a few months ago, it began issuing a diploma that is equal to a degree. I have spent my life presenting the beautiful side of Iran and our culture to people all over the world," she said. Because of government restrictions and political issues, Ms Kafasha said there is no way to "show our art or make people familiar with what we do". Will the pandemic change our relationship with nature and animals? Last year, a popular social media movement called #dancingisnotacrime went viral, in protest of government censorship. This was also the case with the ShabShanbeha festival, which hasn’t been held since. "A strong women that dares to express herself individually suddenly becomes threatening. In the chain of command of internet censorship in Iran, FATA is the policing body that acts on information provided by the SCC and CCDOC. 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