Did concert in Iranian holy city topple an ayatollah’s ban on music?

Al-Monitor – Mashhad, Iran’s second most populous city, houses the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth imam of the Shiites. As a result, the city attracts a large number of religious tourists and perhaps unsurprisingly is a stronghold of Iranian hard-liners. For years now, it has also had a reputation as the city where concerts are banned. This, however, might have changed two weeks ago.

On July 19, Hesameddin Seraj, a vocalist with an international reputation and a repertoire of traditional Iranian songs, broke the concert taboo by performing in a downtown hall owned by Hamdan, a charity. The large audience spanned several generations.

“Thank God the resistance against music in Mashhad has [come to an end],” Seraj remarked to local media at a July 21 press conference. “We hope this continues.”

The unofficial music ban in this northern city is largely due to two prominent hard-liners, Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda and his son-in-law, Ebrahim Raisi. Alamolhoda is Mashhad’s Friday prayer leader, and Raisi is the custodian of Imam Reza’s shrine. Raisi made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in the 2017 elections, losing to moderate Hassan Rouhani.

Alamolhoda has a reputation for ensuring that any concert in Mashhad gets canceled, typically at the last minute, even if the musicians have obtained permission from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. The ayatollah usually asks the local police force or prosecutors to call off the event. For example, on March 14, the local judiciary blocked a performance by the famous sitar player Keivan Saket. Alamolhoda’s visible exertion of influence has harmed Rouhani’s reputation, as while campaigning for the 2013 and 2017 elections, he had promised to end such restrictions.

“You must not hold a concert [next] to the Imam Reza [shrine]. This is against the dignity and identity of this city,” Alamolhoda was famously quoted as saying by the BBC in 2016. “If you want to [go to] a concert, then you shouldn’t be here. [You should] go to another city to live. If a human being wants to live in a city and be free to fool around, … why would he choose a [religious] city?”

Some parliamentarians, including the outspoken and popular Ali Motahari, have publicly criticized Alamolhoda’s behavior, noting that Iran is not a federal state where different rules can be applied in different cities. “We shouldn’t [allow] differentiations between various provinces on the issue of concerts,” Motahari said in 2016.

Motahari, whose father played a prominent role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, further rebuked Alamolhoda’s views, remarking, “Holding a concert in Mashhad isn’t equivalent to insulting Imam Reza.”

At the press conference two days after performing, the taboo-breaking Seraj asserted that traditional Persian music is not an insult to religion. In fact, he argued, it is just the opposite.

“Traditional Iranian music is rooted in mysticism and moral values,” Seraj said. “If we simply allow artists to come and perform on stage, it would be a contribution to mysticism.”

While Seraj and some members of the media are optimistic about the beginning of a new era of softening restrictions in Mashhad, some concert organizers and music producers believe that Seraj’s performance will prove to be a one-off affair.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, the concert organizer Seyyed Mahdi Fatemi said that Seraj playing traditional music had made the difference in his being allowed to perform. Pop music singers would not have been allowed on stage in the holy city.

“The opponents [of concerts] are against pop music, which is seen as Western music, but they have a lot [fewer] problems with traditional music,” Fatemi said. “There is no official ban, but one day before the concert, [local authorities] come and tell you that there will be no concert. This is illegal, but they are influential.”

Fatemi further explained, “There is no law banning singers from going on stage in Mashhad, and people of this city aren’t against music either. However, I think the restriction will persist.”

Another concert organizer, who requested anonymity, told Al-Monitor that it was not so surprising that a traditional singer had a concert in Mashhad.

“[Seraj and his team] may have connections that permitted this performance,” the organizer said. “But I do not think Seraj’s concert means that the obstacle has been removed and the road has been paved for pop singers to give a concert there. [On the contrary], it’s highly unlikely that pop music singers will be allowed to give a concert in Mashhad.”

The political analyst Mohammad Sadegh Javadi Hesar, a Reformist, told the Feraru website in July that Seraj had gotten permission from Alamolhoda himself.

“The Seraj concert in Mashhad wasn’t by happenstance, but we can’t call this occurrence an indication of important changes on Mashhad’s cultural scene,” Javadi Hesar said. “However, this little event can be considered a step toward change.”

He also said that the people of Mashhad have a role to play in change. Javadi Hesar noted, “For many years, people in Mashhad have suffered from cultural discrimination, and they now have this demand that Mashhad, like other cities, should have space for cultural activities.”