Iran Prez bans western music
Oh Joy. Talibanism is on the rise in Iran: Iran's President has just banned all western music- even classical- from Iran's TV and Radio, cause, you know, its un-islamic. Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned all Western music from Iran's state radio and TV stations — an eerie reminder of the 1979 Islamic revolution when popular music was outlawed as "un-Islamic" under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. [...] The official IRAN Persian daily reported Monday that Ahmadinejad, as head of the Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, ordered the enactment of an October ruling by the council to ban all Western music, including classical music, on state broadcast outlets. "Blocking indecent and Western music from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is required," according to a statement on the council's official Web site. And you know Iran is all about decency: However, women are prohibited from singing in public, except to a segregated female-only audience. Hard-liners were afraid the voice of a woman soloist might arouse impure thoughts in men. Women are allowed to sing as part of a chorus. Wow. Ahmadinejad's order means the state broadcasting authority must execute the decree and prepare a report on its implementation within six months, according to the IRAN Persian daily. Earlier this month, Ali Rahbari, conductor of Tehran's symphony orchestra, resigned and left Iran to protest the treatment of the music industry in Iran. Before leaving, he played Beethoven's Ninth Symphony to packed Tehran theater houses over several nights last month — its first performance in Tehran since the 1979 revolution. The performances angered many conservatives and prompted newspaper columns accusing Rahbari of promoting Western values. Those poor crazy bastards. God help them!
posted by The Sandmonkey @ 12/20/2005 01:20:00 AM
3 Comments:
Well, playing Beethoven _is_ promoting Western (or at least European) values. And a large part of classical music, including 90% of Bach's music, is specifically Christian, so it is indeed un-Islamic. So if you are defensive about Islam, it is all quite logical. Crazy people are often logical if you grant their basic axioms. If everybody is out to get you, then it is logical to hole up in an apartment with a machine gun and a couple of hostages. Banning music is the cultural equivalent.
I can't imagine living without music. Metallica, Evanessence, Alter Bridge, Linkin Park, Staind, Megadeth, et al. Are you kiddin' me?! And if I was forced to listen to sermons blasted from a mosque speaker, I swear, I would go nuts. Maybe that's why there so many jihadis.
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jonas
I can assure as someone living in Iran right now that Western music continues to be played on radio and television. Even if the ban were enacted, there's wide spread usage of the Internet and tons of bootleg music everywhere (just saw Pink Floyd's The Wall cds at the mall). Metallica also has a very strong following.
Women here have a much stronger public presence then almost anywhere in the mid-east and often hold positions of power that women in the US can only hope for some day i.e. vice president or deans of major medical schools and universities.
So, before you go spouting off about how horrible life is in another country, perhaps you could try speaking to someone who actually lives there.
BTW, The Taliban are a product of Sunni Saudi Arabia not Shia Iran and in case you're wondering, I'm female and American.
Jonas- There are no sermons blasted from loud speakers.
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