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Iranian singers push boundaries, face restrictions

Iranian authorities have begun to crack down on female singers and musicians, despite attempts by the culture minister to issue more licenses for performances.
Iranian singer Googoosh, whose real name is Faegheh Atashin, salutes the audience during a rare concert she gave in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil, 320 kms (200 miles) north of Baghdad, late on September 12, 2010. The popular Persian diva was banned from singing along with all female preformers in Iran after the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979, but she resumed her performances abroad ten years ago.  AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Amid the political clashes in Iran, more and more unwritten restrictions are being imposed on female singers and musicians every day. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women have been banned from singing in solo performances and today, after 36 years, steps are being taken by hard-liners to prohibit women from playing musical instruments as well.

“I could not release a music album in Iran and the situation was even worse when [former President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad was in office,” Fariba Davoudi, a singer who has reached the master level in teaching radif (the styles of traditional Iranian music), told Al-Monitor. “When they arrested my student, I realized that I can no longer stay in Iran.”

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