- 188 views
- 298 downloads
Popular music in post-revolutionary Iran: concepts, definitions, and restrictions
-
- Author / Creator
- Mofidi Tehrani, Ardavan
-
Despite the restrictions imposed on Iran's music atmosphere in the years after the 1979 Islamic revolution, different music genres survived and overcame these restrictions. Westernized popular music (musiqi-e pāp) and its presence in public space has been one of the controversial topics among Islamic theologians after the revolution, ranging from complete outlawing to freedom of all its forms. In the first decades following the revolution, the government marginalized Westernized popular music more than any other genre by trying to eradicate everything that had a sign of the Pahlavi Modernization-Westernization era. After the reforms of 1998 and fundamental changes in the country's policies in various fields, musiqi-e pāp overcame the restrictions and their intensity. After a long absence, women were allowed to appear at music venues as musicians, and young musicians were allowed to perform and get authorization to publish their music officially. However, these restrictions took many forms and were manifested in banning women's solo singing and dancing and the need for authorizations with complicated procedures for music production.
Based on analyzing written work around Iran's popular music and autoethnographic research, this thesis examines how the dynamics of restriction changed over the years by changing state policies and the development of technological advancements such as the internet and how both the Islamic government and the people made compromises over time. Combining the concepts discussed in scholarly works about Iranian popular music with an autoethnographic perspective will help redefine the concepts as an insider and determine their place and importance in the post-revolutionary popular music scene. -
- Subjects / Keywords
-
- Graduation date
- Fall 2023
-
- Type of Item
- Thesis
-
- Degree
- Master of Arts
-
- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.