Culture

Radiofarda – The head of the Islamic Republic Radio and Television, Ali Askari, has appointed his brother-in-law, Hamid Shahabadi, as the Deputy Director of the “Seda va Sima” (Voice and Vision) monopolized state-run radio and television network on Wednesday, October 7. Shahabadi is replacing Morteza Mirbaqeri, who, except for a limited period, was the second-in-command of the organization under the …

Al-Arabia – A gathering of fans of the late Iranian composer and singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian in the capital Tehran outside the hospital where he died turned into an anti-government protest Thursday evening, with demonstrators chanting “death to the dictator,” according to videos shared on social media. Shajarian, 80, died of a heart attack in Tehran’s Jam hospital on Thursday, his son …

RFL/RE – Iranian composer and singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian, whose prolific recordings of traditional Persian music made him a national icon and “ambassador of Iran,” has died at age 80. There was an immediate outpouring of grief outside Jam Hospital in Tehran, where the singer died on October 8, according to state television. As night fell, the crowd lit candles …

PBS.com – Karim Jabbari still remembers how painful it was to walk down the street with his family as a child and see his neighbors turn away. “No one was willing to talk to us in public,” he says. Jabbari’s father was a political prisoner, an activist and “public enemy” of the dictatorship that then ruled Tunisia. His family was …

deadline.com – Virgil Films & Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Nasrin, a documentary about activist Nasrin Sotoudeh narrated by Oscar winner Olivia Colman. Sotoudeh is a human rights activists and an outspoken leader of Iran’s women’s rights movement. Last week, she cited serious health concerns in ending a six-week hunger strike in Evin Prison, where she has been serving a nearly four-decade sentence. Millions of people from …

Radiofarda – The professors of the Iranian Association of Persian Language and Literature have lambasted Iran’s Ministry of Education (MoE) for employing Twelver-Shi’ite seminary scholars to teach Persian in schools across Iran. Based on MoE’s new guidelines, the second and third grade seminaries’ graduates are officially qualified to teach Persian in Iranian high schools, meaning the MoE has recognized the …

Radiofarda – The presence of a cat in a play staged in Tehran by the prominent Iranian director Mohammad Rahmanian has unleashed the country’s censorship authorities to ban the production. The six-episode play, “Love in Days of Corona [virus],” starring Mahtab Nasirpour, Sima Tirandaz, and Behnoosh Tabataba’ei, was staged at the Bagh (Graden) Cafe in the Roudaki Complex. After just …

thejakartapost.com – The men in the audience clapped and the women ululated as the band finished singing: it would have been commonplace except the venue was in Iran and the group on stage were all women. (L to R) Oud player Noushin Yousefzadeh, kasser drummer Negin Heydari, pippeh drummer Malihe Shahinzadeh, and drummer Faezeh Mohseni practise together at a home …

Radiofarda – The European Film Academy and the Berlin International Film Festival, known as Berlinale, have jointly called for the immediate release of renowned Iranian lawyer and human rights defender, Nasrin Sotoudeh, featured in Jafar Panahi’s Golden Bear-winning “Taxi.” Ms. Sotoudeh has been on a hunger strike since August 10, protesting the dire condition of political prisoners and demanding their immediate release …

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 …