Iran's first pop revolutionaries

Iranian musicians have often faced immense challenges in getting their work heard in their own country. After the country's Islamic revolution in 1979 it was made a criminal offence to own or play pop music and women were banned from singing in public.

But one group is trying to change that. Arian is the first officially sanctioned mixed gender pop group to come out of Iran. The nine-piece band have permission to play, to tour and to publish their music in their native country and are now touring Europe to spread the message of their music abroad.

Speaking to the BBC's World Service programme The Ticket, main guitarist and singer Ali said they had experienced problems over Iran's strict Islamic beliefs and religious sensitivities in their attempts to reach a wider audience.

You go to Iranian movies and all you see is misery, nothing else, we wanted to show the real Iran. "We needed some very smart management for this, we had to go step by step," he said. "For example, we started by playing at places where the permission of central offices of the ministry of culture was not required and step by step we have grown.

"Now, everything has changed. The belief of the people changed after the Iran-Iraq war, young people needed something else to be happy. "That's why the government wanted to find a space for them and I think the best way was pop music."

The band remembers the ecstatic reception at their first live public appearance in the Iranian capital, Tehran. "Our live performances changed [after that]... they got better and better and now we have very successful performances - too many people come, 50,000 or even 100,000!" Ali said.

Full Story, Thanks to BBC News

MathewK -

Check out the pictures guys, the woman is not fully covered with two slits for the eyes, the whole face is exposed, I can even see a bit of wrist, what next a bit of ankle!! This is totally unacceptable, call the Mullahs, gather the stones, mobilise the religious police, the vice the vice..

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