Iranian Popular Music from a Social Point of View

Reprinted from Haghighat (issue 15, May 2004) the newspaper of the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist). Translation by AWTW.

"Pop music" satisfies an important part of the cultural and spiritual needs of the people in today's world, and every society produces it. Hundreds of millions of youth listen to this music, become inspired or depressed by it, dance or sing with it. It can make them thoughtful or carefree. Lullabies may lull them to sleep or cries of rage may resonate in their veins. Pop is short for popular, relating to the general public, and usually means the kind of music youth relate to in terms of rhythm, melody, language and subject matter. It can influence broad sections of society, especially the youth, and reflect the feelings and social and political concerns of a given time and place. [In the Farsi original, the word "pop" is written in English. As the article points out it is referring to the wide phenomenon of contemporary popular music and not "pop" as a specific genre, as the word is often used in the West. Translator's note.] So pop music is closely linked to the social situation in each country and takes on a "national" character and colour. Even though the rapid expansion of global communications in the field of culture and art has somewhat disrupted borders and national divides in music, there are still real distinct differences and characteristics. The music's ability to penetrate and integrate different societies is, because of language, minimal. As a result of scientific and cultural communications internationally some words and expressions of stronger and dominant languages enter others, but the texture, musicality and behaviour of a language change with difficulty and slowly. In terms of music's rhythm and melody, however, things are different and pass more easily from one nation and its ethnic music to another. Also, similar social, political and personal attitudes have made their way into pop music in various nations. This is because of a number of factors: the imperialist system is increasingly global and people all over the world become rapidly informed and influenced, and important aspects of tribal and expanded family relations in underdeveloped parts of the world have weakened or been liquidated and as a result relations between men and women and between parents and children in different countries are becoming more similar.

The characteristics of Iranian pop music reflect this framework. It all started in the 1950s [early 1330s in the Iranian calendar] when a trend arose to incorporate both Western melodies and instruments. Considering the thinking that was dominant in music then, this trend was new-ist in form. But as lyrics go, it had nothing new to offer. The content of the lyrics was basically no different from that of the traditionalists, and if there was any variety it was in terms of distancing itself from love themes and moving towards nature. The melodies were mainly taken from conservative French and Italian easy-listening music and sometimes Armenian-Russian themes, arabesque, flamenco and Spanish folk music. This music became famous as jazz in Iran even though it was different to the jazz rooted in the sad songs of the black slaves in the US. This music didn't even dare to stand with the high tide of music at that time in the West, that is, rock and roll, a music that was advancing by breaking a lot of barriers and rules in rhythm, beat and melody, in language, in performance and in the use of instruments and lyrics. But at any rate Iranian "jazz" music, with songs such as "The Death of Swan", "Mehregans' Cold Breeze", "The Golden Charette", "It Was Night in the Desert" and so on, was considered a move forward, and despite all its conservatism opened the path for new pop music.

Before getting into the birth of Iranian pop music, it is worth mentioning some of the characteristics of Iranian "jazz" so that some of the later developments can be better understood.

First, the lyrics did not have any social content, and did not deal with political and social matters even through allusion. The conservatism and the general fear resulting from the atmosphere of amnesia and suppression following the 1953 coup d'etat [in which the government of the nationalist reformer Mossadegh was overthrown by a CIA-backed coup, re-installing the monarchy of the Shah] were casting their shadow over music too. Perhaps an occasional artist would try to let the life and work of the masses into the world of songs through folk music, but such works were rare.

Second, except for a few folk songs with a peasant colour, both the language and class interests of the lyrics reflected old aristocratic romanticism, which concentrated on describing the different body parts of the female loved one and moaned and cried about her infidelities, and had a clearly feudalistic view of women as the property of men.

Third, the love lyrics were exclusively written with a male viewpoint and language. The description of the loved one and the tales of frustration and rivalry were all from a male point of view, even if sung by a female performer. In fact, generally women singers didn't shine in this field and women songwriters were non-existent. A handful of duets (where a man and woman sing in the same song) in this period offered a pale secondary role for women as independent beings. But even a woman who was not dumb and passive, and entered into dialogue with the man, still fell under his shadow. At the same time, the comical, light character of these duets, which usually had a happy ending, would make them marginal and not too serious.

Fourth, god featured in most of the songs, either as the ultimate support in whom the songwriter would find refuge at the height of his hopelessness and the betrayal of his beloved or of life itself, or as the entity addressed by the poet's complaint, the responsible and determining factor in human destiny. In any event, god's omnipresence in the lines and refrain of the lyrics tells of the dominance of superstition, and inevitably undercut the positive spirit of protest, rebellion and change in these works.

Fifth, this field of music, like all the others, was devoid of singer-songwriters. The French and Italian counter-parts of this music were identified with artists who were at once the singer, songwriter and composer, but not so in Iran, where the singer at most might have played an instrument. Due to the lack of singer-songwriters, many songs were marred by an unevenness in the song's feeling, content and form, and the performance style would not suit the content - the result was thus ineffective and weak. But the main shortcoming in this field was the separation of the elements of production. Each person would carry out their task independently of the others, like clerks in an office; there was no debate, no back-and-forth, and no mutual influence between the four elements of the song, i.e. the songwriter, the composer, the arranger, and the singer. Either this was not felt necessary, or feudal pride and prejudice and a monopoly mentality would prevent others from entering one's own field.

Pop Music with a Conscience

In the late 1960s (1340s), a new wave in music rose that rapidly changed the character and colour of the songs and found a vast audience. The precursors of this wave were youth whose minds were not in tune with the old spirit of defeat and sleepiness, who were not unfamiliar with musical developments in the west and who had enough courage and self-confidence to take up the task of subverting the spirit ruling the music that dominated the radios and record market. These pioneers did not descend from the skies nor were they people whose ideas and work were imbued with "god-given talents". They were products of the particular objective and subjective conditions. And their thoughts and actions in the realm of cultural and artistic activity were formed and developed under the same conditions.

In those days, the traditional texture of urban society was undergoing sudden and disruptive developments. A wave of migration arose, and the cities were becoming balloons ready to burst. The development of capitalist relations and the activation of the labour market in the cities accelerated the beat of people's lives. Masses of migrants would burst in here and there, running for work, and large numbers of women stepped out of the closed circle of the home to integrate into social life. Students' eyes were opened to the outside world and a variety of life choices, the small capitalists raced to climb the ladder of success and amass money as soon as possible, and the rich feudal lords lifted themselves from their cushions to turn their riches and lands into capital. The tunes of the old, crippling traditional music no longer responded to the new situation.

The pioneers of Iranian pop music had political minds and a social consciousness. These were young composers, songwriters and singers who to different degrees stood in opposition to the ruling despotic system. They refused to conciliate with suppression and censorship. They identified with the revolutionary intellectuals, who in those days had lit the flames of armed struggle against the monarchy. Some of them followed the ideal-seeking struggles and revolutions in other countries and drew inspiration from Vietnam, Palestine, the Cultural Revolution in China, and the revolutionary struggle in the 1960s in the West, including the Black and anti-war movements in the US. Most of them had experienced the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Theodorakis and many others. It was this mentality and this consciousness that gave creativity and life to the works of this period and strengthened the spirit of opposition and rebellion in their audience. This young, thirsty generation searched for and found a different message behind allegories, phrases, cords, riffs and beats. The songs, even when they reflected hopelessness and ambiguity, harboured a submerged rage and frustration that expressed social discontent. Their love songs smelt new and earthy, not alien to the conditions and social life of their creators. The personal aspect of separation and sorrow that ran in the vein of these songs would soon fade and be interpreted as a common and collective pain. "Scent of Wheat", "Friday", "You Are the Rain", "Home", "Dead End", "Two Windows", "Two Fish", "Rivers", "Mirror", "The Ever-Believing Friend", "The Bird", "Namaz" [prayer] (which even during the Shah, under clerical pressure, changed into "Niaz" ["Need"]) and so on... were all created in this kind of atmosphere. In the days of the 1979 revolution, pop music that no longer let itself be bound by censorship went into the street with a direct language, and allegories and allusions made way for joy and slogans. "Many Things to Say", "My Land, a Birth in Blood", "The Chanters of Dawn", "Deceiver"... are the products of this time. The establishment of the Islamic Republic ended a shining period when Iranian pop music flourished.

The Boundaries of Pop

Before going into the subsequent development of Iranian pop music, it is necessary to mention some of the important characteristics of this music before the 1979 revolution.

First, both direct and indirect political anti-regime references entered the content of everyday music, though this was mainly done through allegories and symbolic subjects and characters. But even though the world was undergoing great revolutionary turmoil, the international struggle did not become the subject of songs. The nationalistic thinking of the artists, though not explicit, did not permit international solidarity and an internationalist spirit to enter the songs. Of hundreds of songs written in those years, "O' Sorrowful from the East", which was inspired by the liberation war of the people of Vietnam, is an exception. The view dominating pop songs reflected the tendencies and aspirations of middle-class intellectuals (urban petit bourgeoisie and middle bourgeoisie), ranging from optimism and militancy to hopelessness and frustration.

Second, there was very little use of folk pieces, as these contained limited and old content and were detached from the new subject matter of urban life. Thus, the work, life and struggle of the downtrodden and poor did not enter pop music even through folklore. The pop music of the 1960s and 1970s was a step behind "street music" in terms of influencing the workers and lower urban strata. (By "street music" we mean songs played in taxis and inter-city buses that had the tone and air of the oppressed and poor and used lumpen-type language.)

Third, the outlook dominating these songs was still male. They neither reflected women's suffering and fury towards patriarchal and male chauvinist relations nor gave wing to women's dream of liberation, even though here and there songs were made that reflected romantic relations from a woman's point of view or a common look at a question ("Flat-mate", "My Man", "Divorce" and "Two Fish" were among these). The work atmosphere was also male-dominated. All composers and arrangers were male. There were very few women songwriters. Women artists saw and searched for a place mainly in performance.

Fourth, the role and presence of god in songs was reduced. But the hand of fate was still present in many songs. Of course in this period there were strong, good songs that pinned their hope on humans and no longer made real, earthly demands of heaven and other non-existent imaginary forces.

Fifth, the seeds of teamwork were spread in pop music, raising the quality, depth and effect of the works. Some young enlightened artists took initiative. They would debate the elements of musical production - content, subject, form, lyrics and melody. They built up comradery, one-heartedness and a common approach. They would inform each other of what happened behind the scenes (including in terms of work and the official policies of the regime regarding artists and the media, as well as the struggles and sacrifices of the revolutionaries). Their motivation went beyond profit or personal fame, as they felt an obligation towards the masses. Time and again, the regime's execution of a revolutionary, a direct experience with the poverty and misery of the masses, or news about a social horror would spark the creation of a song.

The rise of theocratic reaction [in 1980-81] was accompanied by an invasion of medieval beliefs and thought in the art field and a monopoly in the media. A huge number of artists could find no outlet for expression. From the very beginning, women were banned from singing alone, and their singing role was limited to singing in a chorus, so that nobody would forget that for Islam in all aspects of life women are secondary and subordinate to men and cannot occupy any field on their own, independently. Immediately prior to February 1979 music professionals close to the monarchy, who produced artwork within the official reactionary ideological and cultural framework, had begun to leave the country. But the artists of the people, including the pioneers of pop music who favoured revolution, remained and with unbelieving eyes watched the Islamic regime behead the revolution and bury the hopes and aspirations of the people. Like thousands and thousands of others, they became enraged and started to resist, and were defeated and retreated, confused and hopeless. In these days of retreat, days when the revolution was drowned in blood, songs like "No More Lullabies", which called for vigilance and resistance, went unheard. It was no surprise that such songs found inspiration in the revolutionary movement in Kurdistan, which stood as a revolutionary trench of the people, fighting in arms against the wave of religious reaction. Somewhat later, "My Schoolmate" popped in, which was less explicit and survived the gestating days of the war so that it could take wing in the air of another generation's rebellion.

With the bloody establishment of the Islamic Republic, pop music migrated abroad. First, was a wave of nostalgia: those who before the revolution enjoyed privilege and high positions in society were nostalgic for their previous life and means; the nationalist homesick were nostalgic for the motherland's soil; and revolutionaries and their sympathisers were nostalgic for their martyred comrades and lost opportunities to change the old society and liberate the masses of people. And all these feelings were reflected in songs of exile and immigration. The pioneers and front guard in pop music were wounded and confused, but more than this, they doubted their ideals. The forward-looking, protest and militancy in their works was breathing its last breaths. The means to communicate with the pop music audience in Iran seemed blocked. The country was in the grip of a destructive war, suppression and a smothering atmosphere. The music market abroad was controlled by pro-Shah entrepreneurs who had escaped the 1979 revolution. The orientation of this market was defined by the tastes of those who wanted to reproduce the official art and culture that ruled in Iran before 1979. The main buyers were once again those who were affluent, now in exile. For their parties and fêtes they needed a happy-go-lucky music, to shed tears of regret they needed a passive, nostalgic music, marked by erfanic [gnostic - belief in god] sentiments. Pinned down by hopelessness, a lack of belief in ideals and market pressure, the grouping of pioneers broke apart. Distances widened. Hands no longer moved to pick up the pen, or if they did, they didn't write the lyrics or the melodies that were needed.

But there was still hope! The pop music audience did not remain limited to this rich gathering with its bad taste. Hundreds of thousands of youth were escaping the fires of reactionary war and seeking refuge abroad. How were their spiritual and cultural needs to be answered? In Iran too, ears were longing for songs. And song does not know walls or barbed wire; through thousands of byways it reached black market street sellers. They would flow from tongues before the reactionary guardians could react. Many of these songs were "Los Angeles Pop", with its typical shallowness and facile happy-go-lucky air. But different, more influential works were also created, reached people's ears and filled their hearts, such as "Bread, Cheese and Spices", "Sweety", "Red Home", "Flowing Forest", "Ms Sun", "Take Me Home", "Kite" and others. In short, the pop songs produced abroad came, rapidly spread and put the stamp of defeat on the culture of moaning and nohe. [Nohe is a funereal, wailing song Muslims sing for the dead.]

The Islamic Republic had lost the rhythm. What the regime's media wanted to shove down people's throats in the name of cultural and artistic works not only didn't attract anybody, but was hated and resented. Youth, even the children of the rulers, had no liking for "Islamic Art". This was considered a danger to those planning the security policies of the regime - they needed a solution. In the early 1990s they were copying FBI instructions on security threats and ways to deal with them, and were trying to ape their American godfathers in this field too. According to US internal security officials, there are three ways to confront security dangers. First, is reconnaissance and prevention before the danger occurs. Second, suppression after it occurs. Third, co-opting and digesting the threat, changing its nature from a negative element to one that is positive for the ruling system. One example of this third way is the approach of the US ruling cultural establishment to branches of music that step onto the scene as an anti-system, protest art form and rapidly spread among the oppressed. The cultural policy makers and the entertainment industry bosses, instead of direct suppression and boycott, adopt the music's form but change its content; they buy and corrupt the pioneers if they can, or push them to the sidelines and silence them if they cannot. And they then use the degenerate works created with this policy to promote their own ideology, values and thought among the masses. The Islamic Republic decided to do the same with pop music, hoping they could bring the passed water back under the dam and fill the youth's brains with whatever they decide.

The Mullahs Lose the Rhythm

Thus, all of a sudden a kind of distorted pop music made its way onto Islamic Republic Radio and Television. Pop was no longer "taghoti" and "haram" [blasphemous and sinful]. Young people who were forced to play and practice pop music for their own enjoyment in basements and closets started cautiously to come out. But there were lines not to cross, and there was no fooling around. Any content that implied, in any form or allegory, any kind of resistance, opposition or struggle against the existing order was forbidden! Any exposure of the injustices and horrors of class society, forbidden! Any expression of women's yearning for equality, or the feelings of women, forbidden! Any declaration that humanity should decide its own destiny, any exposure of superstition, forbidden! Tales of love, real and felt romantic relations between men and women, forbidden! [This "forbidden" list is based on a song of the time.] According to the rules and regulations of the censorship and repressive apparatus of the Islamic Republic, artists could write political and social songs on the condition that they promote current Islamic Republic policies. They could, for instance, praise the "beauty and greatness" of the reactionary war or worship the country and its Islamic subjects praising it to the heavens and above the people of other countries, in a nationalist-fascist manner. No talk of love, unless it is erfanic love, love for god, the prophet and the imams. Any liking for the opposite sex could be shown only in a pale way, without fire and in a sick platonic manner.

The soul-less, artificial and impotent music that has been produced and distributed in Iran in the name of pop music is the product of these reactionary regulations and policies. In this scene, there are a handful of profiteering and opportunistic composers, songwriters and singers who produce "pop music" based on the instructions ("recommendations") of the regime's cultural apparatus. For example, they are asked to make a song promoting prayer (namaz), or the need to refer to god, or in praise of the armed forces, and make it so it has the same feel as the songs of Ebi [a singer from Los Angeles]! Then these people steal from the known melodies of others, pilfering words, phrases and allegories, and mix this with reactionary content. They produce rubbish and are paid for their servitude. Even nohes and hymns are pop these days! With the tune of "King of Hearts" they praise Imam Hossein. "Clown" can be considered the most socially orientated product of this official pop, with its watered-down hollow pity for the poor, more like a charity mentality. The most political is "The Street of Dreams", which envies Imam Ali's sword and wants to be "true Shiite" in the face of plunderers of the treasury and today's Ibn Moljems.

In the margins are others - the majority. Enthusiastic youth, with no means. Talented but modest. They see no aspiration or mission for themselves. Their dream is to go abroad, produce there freely and become famous. They worship the pioneers of pop music and believe they can't even get close to them, but they are not willing to take up a pioneering role in today's conditions. In short, they are hooked on conservatism and self-censorship. Some of them, in order not to be "cheap" and at the same time not to give a pretext to the Islamic censors, fall into a trap and hang onto the erfani and opium-like lyrics of hundreds of years ago. They put new packaging on an old product that does not answer today's need. Or as they themselves say, in order to escape "Los Angeles degeneration" they roam the deserts and mountains and resort to danger-free songs about nature, spring and so on. Their melodies are soft and childish, bringing to mind the "children's programme" songs, void of sudden highs and lows, of movement or shock. If they want to be "daring" and convey a political message, they do a remake of "Oh Iran" or produce something else with the same nationalistic content, not to offend anybody. If there is talk of love or romantic feeling, it is so softened that it clearly can't stand up against the romantic and erotic songs and video clips produced abroad. In this area, they themselves prefer to go to the pop market abroad.

This situation has caused honest young pop musicians in Iran to talk about a kind of dead-end in music. They are not talking about a temporary crisis or ebb; they believe pop music has reached a dead-end in Iran. The reality is that "Iranian pop", not only pop in Iran, is going through a crisis. For this music to develop and get over this crisis, there needs to be a pioneering new wave in both form and content. And this will not be possible unless once again pop music is spearheaded by young, new, tradition-breaking, advanced social works. The ruling suppression and censorship in Iran will no doubt try to prevent the official production and distribution of such work. But it cannot block the path of thought and mental activity of creative artists. These works can be produced underground, and the final product sent abroad to be distributed and returned to Iran. The lyrics and melodies of such songs can be sent through proper channels to committed artists abroad to be performed using their own talent and greater resources. What is important for the artists is to recognise their mission and their social commitment, and this is not limited to those living in Iran. The advanced artists living abroad still bear an important part of the burden of overcoming this crisis and setting the direction of things. The favourable elements exist for such a change to take place. There is endless political and social subject matter that can inspire artists of the people. We have musicians who have decades of experience, who have mastered the language and technique of song writing. The presence of women in this scene, though less, in the fields of playing and music-making, is increasing. The influence and integration of the melodies and rhythms of Latino music, and to a lesser extent hip-hop and rap, has made Iranian pop richer and more varied. Experimentation and innovation in the language of lyrics has borne fruit, bringing about sometimes creative and surprising expressions and interpretations. "Forbidden", "Rise", "Male Chauvinism", "Break It", "Nakedness" and "Rare Flower" are examples of this movement taking hold. What is missing is the belief in the cause of liberation, which must find its place in the mind and deeds of the workers in the art field. The pioneers must re-find it; the young travellers must come to know of it. What is still needed is the spirit of rebellion and protest that must beat the drums, push the keys and strum the strings to send the song like an arrow out of the bows of the instruments. Society is demanding a new sound.