Iranian musicians have often faced immense challenges in getting their work heard in their own country.

After the country's Islamic revolution in 1979 it was made a criminal offence to own or play pop music and women were banned from singing in public.

But one group is trying to change that.

Arian is the first officially sanctioned mixed gender pop group to come out of Iran.

The nine-piece band have permission to play, to tour and to publish their music in their native country and are now touring Europe to spread the message of their music abroad.

In the process, they have opened the door for other Iranian bands.

Finding happiness

Speaking to the BBC's World Service programme The Ticket, main guitarist and singer Ali said they had experienced problems over Iran's strict Islamic beliefs and religious sensitivities in their attempts to reach a wider audience.

"We needed some very smart management for this, we had to go step by step," he said.

"For example, we started by playing at places where the permission of central offices of the ministry of culture was not required and step by step we have grown.

"Now, everything has changed. The belief of the people changed after the Iran-Iraq war, young people needed something else to be happy.

"That's why the government wanted to find a space for them and I think the best way was pop music."

The band remembers the ecstatic reception at their first live public appearance in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

"Our live performances changed [after that]... they got better and better and now we have very successful performances - too many people come, 50,000 or even 100,000!" Ali said.

Responsibility

At one point the band sold more than 54,000 tickets to one of their concerts in less than six hours.

Ali puts this popularity in their native country down to timing.

"There was nothing like this in Iran [before] and people were frustrated," he says.

"Now we have a responsibility, we should be better and introduce ourselves all over the world."

"If you go to Iranian movies all you see is misery - nothing else. People think Iran is like this - everything is a desert, all the people are crying..."

"We wanted to show the real Iran."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4079581.stm

cool

iran is definetely comming, slowly but steady....

If you ever seen footage of the aftermath of soccer matches in iran there is absolute chaos riots everywhere basically there is nothing for the youth to do no social outlets..so any time they gather in numbers they take out there frustrations on each other..wonder what the pop concert was like...

I like middle eastern music, its got a zing to it you cant really find anywhere else but most of it sounds too old. Maybe now new age elements will start spreading.

quote:

Originally posted by zig If you ever seen footage of the aftermath of soccer matches in iran there is absolute chaos riots everywhere basically there is nothing for the youth to do no social outlets..so any time they gather in numbers they take out there frustrations on each other..wonder what the pop concert was like...

You mean worse than the English or South Americans? I don't know if blaming soccer riots to a lack of social outlets is correct. People are passionate about soccer in a lot of places in the world, and they will go crazy, social outlets or not! Anyway, it's not like every match ends like that. I've personally never had any relatives or friends leave a game that ended in any riots.

Naw well i aint sort of making it up..it was based on a documentary i seen broadcast on the english channel BBC1..quite a reputable station..it it showed footage of riots etc..but the main premise behind the programme was the religious intolerence to things that most teenagers would do as normal in the west..ye know hanging out in the mall teen discos bands whatever..i aint no expert but the fact that 54000 people turn up for a gig of the countrys only pop band well maybe there is something to what i say..as for english soccer hooligans..ye they still exist but u rarly get that much trouble at english soccer matches these days..not trouble that hits the headlines anyway