Fared Shafinury: Austin Singer-Songwriter Learns The Hard Way Not To Jam In Tehran Park (VIDEO)

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Classically trained musician Fared Shafinury grew up in Corpus Christi, went to college at the University of Texas, and yet somehow always felt too Iranian for South Texas. So the American singer-songwriter moved to Iran for two years, during the Ahmadinejad presidency. "How'd that go?" I asked him last week, when we were introduced in Austin.

Fared, you live in Austin now, a city where musicians can perform almost whenever and wherever they want. Not so in Tehran, I'll bet...

Fared Shafinury: The bureaucracy that musicians must endure in Iran is so tedious, it discourages artists from even trying. A cultural commission called the Ershad oversees all lyrics, and all musical compositions. No music can be recorded, distributed, or even performed without the Ershad's permission. It's sad how many talented musicians are forced to play privately for so few people.

Is the Ershad even tougher on female musicians?

Shafinury: Women in Iran are not allowed to sing in public, except as back-up vocalists to men, or in choirs. Female soloists are not permitted under any circumstances.

So, did you give up performing for two years?

Shafinury: I was going nuts without an outlet. So one day daf player Milad Pourhassan and I went to Park Jamshidiye in the foothills of North Tehran to play in a open-air amphitheater called the Stone Garden, which overlooks the city. I brought my setar. I couldn't imagine anyone would find fault with us, because we were playing traditional Iranian instruments. It wasn't like we were playing an electric guitar and a drum set.

Were you arrested?

Shafinury: Our music attracted a crowd of about 200 people, then the cops came and pulled us away. The audience screamed, "Why? This is traditional music! Let them play!" One cop shouted back, "I don't want to stop them from playing, but it's my job."

Where did they take you?

Shafinury: To the police station, where I was told we didn't have permission from the Ershad to perform in public. The police chief threatened to take our instruments away, so I began to speak in English. I told him I was an Iranian-American who had moved to Iran to perform classical Persian music...that I had studied under Iran's most prominent Masters including Mozaffari, Zolghadr, Shaari, Soukuti, and Mohammad-Reza Lotfi. For some reason this jived with the police chief, and he let us go home.

You were lucky.

Shafinury: I felt hopeless. It was clear to me that in Iran I would never be able to play in a public space, even one as innocent as a family park where little kids run around with ice cream cones.

At that moment, did you finally feel like an American citizen?

Shafinury: I struggled with my identity. Having grown up in South Texas, but feeling very Iranian because of my parents and my love of their musical heritage, I began to convey both Western constructs and Iranian melodic patterns in my music. I blended my knowledge of the Persian classical vocal repertoire, known as the radiff, with an indie rock sensibility.

But in the world of classical Persian music, don't song lyrics always come from the ancient poets?

Shafinury: Song lyrics have traditionally come from ancient poets such as Hafez, Rumi, Saadi, and Omar Khayyam. However, a shift has taken place in recent years and now lyrics from modern poets are becoming more commonplace. On my debut album Behind the Seas, I featured lyrics from Hafez, Saadi, Sohrab Sepehri, and the first feminist poet in Iran -- Forugh Farokhzad.

When you write your own lyrics, are they censored in Iran?

Shafinury: Provocative lyrics that overtly hint at sexuality or politics are censored in Iran, so artists must find unique ways of making statements through metaphors and symbolism. This forces a certain type of creativity, which has the benefit of adding layers of depth to Iranian artistic expression.

Is there an underground music scene in Iran?

Shafinury: The underground rock music scene is thriving in Tehran. Concerts are held in private homes, or on the outskirts of town in private villas. I was fortunate to see a few live shows, because ordinarily these musicians can only share their songs online. The Internet has become a very important tool for the rock music scene inside Iran.

Since the post-election crisis in Iran, do American audiences react differently to your music?

Shafinury: After last week's sold-out show at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, where I performed with my band Tehranosaurus, there were more questions than usual about the meaning of my lyrics. A woman told me our music sounded like "Middle Eastern blue grass music." A military man who served time in Iran during the 70s told me the music "was a perfect bridge between America and Tehran." And for the next couple of months, I'll be teaching a Texas banjo player how to play the setar.

* * * *

This music video featuring Fared Shafinury performing "Arianaz" was shot in Tehran using simply the video function on an ordinary digital camera. Shafinury told me it shows "a more human side to the city...the vast development, the Afghan migrant workers, the class differences, the urban chaos...basically, the streets."

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Comments

[Mikecroft]

Speaking of the beauty of ancient Persian poetry, did you know that Eric Clapton based the lyrics to his uber-hit song Layla on an epic poem by the Persian poet Nezami? The title of Nezami's poem is "The Story of Layla and Manjun" -- manjun in Persian means madman -- and it's the agonizing tale of unconsummated love.

For over 800 years, poets have been influenced by these two desperate lovers, whose saga illustrates how human love can be transformed into divine love through separation and longing. In the poem, Nezami (also Nizami) concludes: "However agonizing the experience, if it is for love it is well."

[docgirl0425]

I felt so sad watching the video. This young man so clearly loves Iran. I am an American, but was raised as what I call a half-and-half. My mother was from Peru. I'm an American, but have always felt a bit of an outsider. I can only imagine what this young man feels like growing up in South Texas. I was heartened to hear that his band and he are getting a listen from US audiences and in Texas, too. He has a lovely voice. There's something melancholy and hopeful at the same time about his music. Maybe one day, he will be able to return to a free Tehran. We can only hope...and pray.

[lightningbolt]

Only a country ruled by retarded barbarians would not allow its own music to be played in public.

[yankees]

Here is where people should just forget about ideologies and thank "Whoever" for living in the USA. Do you think the Huffington Post would be allowed in Iran? just ask the opposition newspaper and media, if you can find them.

[lokipuck]

I suppose we should all just shut up, then?

[YoMama]

Absolutely, hauntingly beautiful. Maybe he could move somewhere that is less oppressive than either Tehran or Texas?

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

I hear Austin is less oppressive than the rest of Texas. :)

[revealator]

Diane, not that I'm comparing it to Tehran, but the so-called 'Live Music Capital of the World' is becoming very musician-unfriendly, Many venues are restricted to the same noise level as normal conversation, at all times, with jail time possible following the third complaint, On top of that, the University of Texas radio station, KUT, is eliminating DJs who showcase Austin music. In short, Fared would be better off in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio.

[Totto]

Beautiful.

[mergina]

Iranian Militias Marry, Rape Virgin Prisoners Before Executions

Members of Iran's Basij paramilitary force on parade in Tehran. A reputed militia member said prison guards in Iran marry and rape female virgins the night before their executions.

Members of Iran's feared Basij militia forcibly marry female virgin prisoners the night before scheduled executions, raping their new "wives" and making it religiously acceptable to execute them, a self-professed member of the paramilitary group said.

The anonymous militiaman told the Jerusalem Post that at age 18 he was "given the 'honor' to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death."

In the Islamic Republic of Iran it is illegal to execute a woman if she is a virgin, the former guard told the newspaper. So the government arranges "wedding" ceremonies to be conducted the night before executions, and prisoners are forced to have sexual intercourse with a guard.

Raped by her new "husband," a female prisoner is now fit to be put to death.

"I regret that, even though the marriages were legal," said the militiaman, who told the Jerusalem Post he had just been released from prison himself after freeing two teenagers rounded up during post-election protests.

Some of the prisoners in his care were drugged with sleeping pills to make them docile, as the girls in their custody always fought back, he said, fearing the night of the rape more deeply than their executions the following day.

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

Reader "mgbgt95" brought to my attention a project by the Guardian (U.K.) to identify crimes taking place during the post-election demonstrations. Here is the link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/01/iran-protest-arrests-afshin-friend

Also, immediately after the election I wrote "Iranian Women: We Feel Cheated, Frustrated, and Betrayed" -- a blog for which more than 80 readers left comments. Here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-tucker/iranian-women-we-feel-che_b_216977.html

[mgbgt95]

this is the link i was so disturbed by:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/jun/29/iran-election-dead-detained

[Tehranosaurus fan]

for CD's: www.Tehranosaurus.com

www.myspace.com/faredshafinury

[mgbgt95]

thanks...i placed my order.....can't help but comment on the previous post re;executions...The Guardian newspaper is asking the public to help identify some of the protesters who have been detained and on several occasions, been raped & their burnt bodies dumped in the desert.
...Fared's voice keeps me as calm as i can be under the circumstances....

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for tipping us off to the Guardian's project. Here is the link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/01/iran-protest-arrests-afshin-friend

[mgbgt95]

amazing how music transcends language.
I wish diane would put an "order here" icon on all GMC articles...make buying a CD so much easier

[wereeverywhere]

What a closed minded, narrow atmosphere IRI tries to impose on its citizens. Politically, culturally, sexually reactionary through and through.

[Sirdi]

Yeah. They should open up. And maybe they'll get nice Sprite ads like we saw on [here] the past few days. Or the various nudist locations also posted. Or those nice billboards also posted here, from Manhattan. I really liked the one with the "doggy".

Yeah, they should open up like us. Free and civilized.

[Diane Tucker - Huffpost Blogger]

It was kinda creepy seeing those posts next to my interview with Fared, wasn't it? Weirder still, those were the most popular stories of the day.

[wereeverywhere]

Backward, vicious social and political policy is hardly an alternative to crass commercialization. As it stands, IRI is unfree and uncivilized.

[lokipuck]

Gotta take the bad with the good, brother.

[Ergon]

I was at an engagement party in Tehran two years ago. Mixed sexes, rock band, and Iranian dancing.
The religious police came to the door, but left after getting a nice bribe. My point being that Iranians will find a way of getrting around ridiculous laws.
But that doesn't mean they'll get all western on us; their civilsation and culture goes back 4000 years.

[walk0nwalls]

That's really nice, the music.

Very nice.

[natchiketa]

Good song, a quite a touching video. The more we realize how similar we are, the better.

[rigveda]

Cool song!

[TexasDem0]

Oh, the joy of theocracy.