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.