Culture

theconversation.com – Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by no means implies a linear process of religious decline. Reliable large-scale data on Iranians’ post-revolutionary religious beliefs, however, has always been lacking. Over the years, research and waves of protests and …

PayvandNews – Archaeologists have recently discovered a prehistorical hatch to Apadana Palace, a majestic ruined royal complex within the UNESCO-registered Persepolis, southern Iran. “The hatch was discovered in the eastern part of Apadana Palace, and it was created during the Achaemenid period to repel the surface water of the courtyard, and after this period, it was hidden due to the …

PayvandNews – The number of foreign travelers to Iran has drastically plunged due to the global coronavirus pandemic as the Islamic Republic registered only 74 visits during the spring season. “Iran’s [inbound] tourism came to almost zero and the country had 74 foreign tourists in the first three months of this [Iranian calendar] year (started on March 20), due to …

BBC – Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian says he is facing trial for working with female singers and dancers. The 30-year-old, who has already been imprisoned twice on charges relating to his music, says he was arrested two weeks ago over his latest project. The album, which is not yet complete, is due to include female vocalists – who are effectively …

deadline.com – Here’s the promising first trailer for Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s Venice competition drama Sun Children, which we’ve heard good things about going into the festival. The film tells the story of 12-year-old Ali and his three friends. Together, they work hard to survive and support their families, doing small jobs in a garage and committing petty crimes to make …

armradio.com – Iranian Armenian composer Loris Tjeknavorian, 82, has been selected as the winner of the Books for Peace Awards 2020, Tehran Times reports. He had first received the nomination in May from Iran’s Art for Peace Festival, which had nominated him for the 2019 edition of the awards. The winners will be honored during a special ceremony on September 12 in …

newsweek.com – Iranian composer Mehdi Rajabian lives with the constant threat of prison hanging over his head. The 30 year old has already been jailed once for his work, but on Tuesday he was taken to court and arrested again over his latest project: an album featuring music from across the Middle East. The album includes songs by female singers and …

Radiofarda – In a statement on Wednesday, the Society for Iranian Archeology criticized a recent decision of the Cultural Heritage Organization to create a second branch of the National Museum in the opulent mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini. The plan to transfer two to three thousand artifacts from the National Museum of Iran in the center of Tehran to the basement …

en.qantara.de – German-Iranian Misagh Joolaee was recently recognised for widening the scope of playing the Persian spiked fiddle with the German Record Critics’ Award. Mariam Brehmer listened to his new album The kamancheh, also known as the Persian spiked fiddle, is a mainstay in Iranian art music and has been popularised on the international stage by the virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor. This delicate bowed …

nytimes.com – Mehrdad Oskouei’s latest documentary, “Sunless Shadows,” is a startling, raw confrontation with Iran’s patriarchy. A poignant follow-up to his 2016 “Starless Dreams,” about teenage girls in a Tehran juvenile detention center, the new movie focuses on a group of adolescent girls and older women imprisoned for murdering male relatives. (Both documentaries are part of a virtual Oskouei retrospective at the …