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.
