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‘We Just Make Music’: Deconstructing Notions of Authenticity in the Iranian DIY
Underground
Since its naissance in the 1970s, punk has laid the foundations of DIY (Do-It-
Yourself) culture and amateur rock productions, by offering an alternative to the mainstream
and an opposition to dominant culture. Emergent subcultures exploit the surroundings to
express and change their own condition and as George McKay points out, to offer alternative
views of the future, whether through political or social change (McKay, 2005). Similarly, the
post-2000 development of underground culture in Iran provides a place where oppositional
ideas can be expressed and shared, and subversion can be easily spread. In Tehran, Iranian
youth participate in a vibrant underground music community, creating music from modest
means in home studios, basements, and other private spaces. These amateur musicians often
have no musical training; they are mostly self-taught and have learned rock and its many
subgenres from internet downloads and bootleg recordings of Western popular music. This
self-education in rock, combined with an exposure to a rich tradition of Iranian folk and
classical music that has been allowed to be produced and distributed in the country under
limited conditions, generates a unique case of music-making that inherently embodies DIY
principles. The result is a multi-faceted music-making culture that embraces diverse cultural
and musical influences while speaking specifically of the current Iranian youth generation.
While looking forward to an alternative future, Iranian youth participants of
contemporary DIY culture simultaneously project are met with a constant need to negotiate
both with their cultural and social environment, but also with their portrayals in the Western
news media. Through the interactions between the media and young underground rock
musicians, a number of representations of authenticity are promoted. This essay will explore
such notions of authenticity through multiple avenues, in order to distinguish and deconstruct
what is publicised in the media and discover how musicians are responding to and negotiating
with these images. More importantly, the aim is to better understand the Iranian rock
underground beyond its homogeneous media image, and rather, as a multi-faceted collection
of complex subcultures where Iranian modern youth identity is continually evolving.
I. Music Practice in Post-2000 Iran
Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s aptly
dubbed ‘Cultural Revolution,’ changed the future of the arts by severely limiting expression
and artistic production. Music endured, by far, the most suppression, as it was deemed
incompatible with Islam and thus inappropriate for the citizens of an Islamic Republic.
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Initially, all music was banned, but within the following three years, traditional and religious
music gradually began to re-enter the public domain. Popular music, however, would remain
under close authoritarian scrutiny and restriction as it continues to be today.
Since 2000, and in particular, since the presidency of the moderate reformist
Mohammad Khatami, the fluctuating laws surrounding music have sometimes offered limited
room for popular musicians and their audiences (Siddiqi, 2005). In the early 2000s, home-
grown pop music began to gain some official acceptance, seen as a way to counteract the
rising influence of Western popular culture. But other genres, including heavy metal, rap, and
rock, would primarily remain confined to a budding illegal underground scene. Musicians are
required to undergo an arduous and costly process of attaining permits for production and
performance - and more often than not for popular musicians, their efforts are in vain.
Official acceptance of popular music has continued to oscillate between rulings of halal
(permitted) or haram (forbidden), with some musicians having been successful in the
unpredictable approval process for seemingly inexplicable reasons, while the majority have
struggled, given up, or disillusioned, have not even attempted to gain government permission.
As Michel Foucault, Michel de Certeau, and others have commonly noted, where
there is power, there is resistance. Shifts in power often prompt a collective response, as
youth form new collectives and new methods of resistance (Hebdige, 1983).The lack of
consistency and unpredictability of censorship practice in Iran frequently contributes to the
current disregard of laws and lack of concern about new or re-implemented rulings. In many
cases, it has fuelled Iranian artists to pursue the forbidden and discover new ways of being
heard.
The decline and temporary fall of an official music industry led to the creation of a
new underground culture over the next three decades. Iranian youth have developed a rich
underground culture, based strongly on notions of DIY. Just as the beginnings of punk were
entirely encompassed by a DIY initiative - a total control over music by amateurs that
challenged the output of mainstream professionals - so has been the path of DIY in Iran,
using what little resources are available. In the 1980s and 1990s, the black market flourished,
as illegally imported and home-grown cassette tapes were circulated, unofficial basement
shows were promoted via word of mouth, and rituals of stencilling and graffiti were carried
out at night away from the watchful eyes of the basij - Iran’s notorious moral police (Reshad,
2008).
Iranian DIY’s possibilities of refusal and resistance of mainstream culture and
political authority have been taken to new grounds with the help of the internet. Underground
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networks have spread rapidly online as music can be easily recorded and uploaded by
amateur musicians, and easily downloaded by audiences all over the world. Many bands have
emerged from the Tehrani underground, gaining enough recognition through the internet to
attract international media attention, particularly in the British and American media. As a
result, have started to move out of the country in order to fully pursue musical careers.
As youth formulate individual and collective expressions in relation to the mainstream
Western media’s perception of them, youth culture, as Simon Frith writes, becomes a
contradictory mix of the authentic and the manufactured (Frith, 1978). While the authentic
usually represents a search for the truth, for the ‘natural,’ unadulterated essence of something,
differing definitions and interpretations of what constitutes authentic culture often complicate
its existence. Most commonly, authenticity manifests itself in various forms of resistance.
This resistance can pit itself against the mainstream, the mass-produced and the mass-
consumed, or political authority (Thornton, 1996). In the case of the Iranian underground, the
notion of authenticity thrives upon its resistance to all of these factors. In order to better
understand the diverse and complex nature of Iranian underground identity, this essay will
begin to explore the notion of authenticity as a series of constructs that emerge chiefly from a
continually shifting symbiotic relationship between Iranian musicians and the Western media.
II. The View Through the Lens of the Western Media
The Western media dominates in the global world.
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It shapes not only the
predominant images of the self, but also those of the ‘Other,’ or in this case, the non-Western
subject. Mass media, as both a recipient and distributor of culture, becomes the location of
cultural struggle for youth groups that are seeking a new medium to articulate individual
experience collectively (Brake, 1985). In most instances, the media has contributed to the
tendency to position popular global music subcultures within a framework of political
resistance.
In terms of the Iranian underground, while musicians may be neglected by their own
state media due to the illegal nature of their music practices, they receive much publicity in
Western and diaspora publications abroad. The Iranian youths have become a symbol of
resistance, especially through media-reported student activism and electoral demonstrations
in Tehran since the 1990s, and most notably since the recent 2009 presidential election
(Memarian & Nesvaderani, 2010). Iranian youth culture is easily politicised and romanticised
through the process of a self-projection of Western objectives. The portrayals of repressed
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‘The Western media’ to which we will allude in this essay refers primarily to the British and American media industry.
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youth struggling to rise-up against an authoritarian regime offers a compelling canvas on
which to project the fight for Western-style freedom and democracy. This self-projection
through politicisation often involves the highly connotative usage of Western subcultural
labels.
Generally, subcultural labels, as a creation of convenience by the media, can be highly
problematic. Punk is, of course, no exception, as it has become far too easy to stereotype it as
a subculture of loud and angry anti-establishment youth, while in the process ignoring all of
its nuances and diverse musical practices. To use an example, those familiar with Marjane
Satrapi’s 2007 popular animated film Persepolis, based on her autobiographical graphic
novel of the same name, might remember a comical montage of Marjane as a young girl in
the 1980s developing taste for ‘punk rock’ (Persepolis, 2008). Much to the disapproval of her
elders, she wears a self-adorned jacket with the words, ‘Punk is not ded,’ and rocks out on her
tennis racket ‘guitar’ to a cassette featuring the 50 Toumans’ track, ‘Master of the Monsters.’
Later, Marjane attends a ‘punk’ show, and although initially shocked by the angry screams of
the overbearing, mohawked men on stage, soon finds herself pounding the air with her fists
like everyone else. The band she is fist-pumping to, however, is not actually ‘punk’ as many
would classify it, but the Norwegian death metal band Blood Red Throne.
This is just one example that illustrates that while subcultural labels are globally
influential, they can also transform and evolve depending on their surroundings, with local
specificities (Frith, 1996). For young Marjane, punk could have simply symbolized angry
white males screaming threateningly into a microphone – which although can be found in
punk rock, can also be found in alternate genres. Alternatively, her punk experience could
simply signify, as the moment in the film implies, a rebellion of youth against an older
generation; of youth trying to find their own voice. Or, in the broader context of the film, it
could symbolize a young girl’s resistance against the changes in her environment brought on
by a new authoritarian regime and its severely enforced laws.
The term punk takes on new meanings in Iranian popular music. Rather than a re-
creation or an imitation of well-known notions or aesthetics of American or British punk,
musicians redefine the genre on their own terms, relevant to their own surroundings. Often, it
is used in a hybridised form combined with local influences, as in the case of the gypsy-punk
band 127. On the surface, it could appear that the band has merely adopted a fusion genre that
has become fashionable over the last decade or so, one that references the rebellious message
of punk combined with an exoticism of the unknown (Silverman, 2012). But upon a closer
listen, one can hear not only Western instrumentation and English lyrics, but also Persian
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rhythms and percussion and a message that is uniquely of the young Iranian generation. 127’s
choice to take on the descriptive label of ‘gypsy-punk’ is also significant in how it links their
music with the nomadic struggle of the Romani, whose continually shifting diasporic
communities are widely spread across the globe. This is not unlike the multitude of Iranians,
especially musicians and artists, who chose or were forced to emigrate since 1979, many
without being able to return to their native homelands. They continue to find themselves
caught in a cultural intersection between East and West.
Due to a lack of institutionalised and formal channels for youth, Iranian youth
subcultures are not always synonymous with their Western counterparts either. Iranian
popular music practice has become a symbol of a quest for a modern cultural identity, with
political resistance being one aspect of this journey. Much of the post-2000 discourse in the
West, however, portrays the Iranian underground solely as a political symbol rather than as a
forum for entertainment – which, it will be argued, is its definition for the social actors. The
very label ‘underground’ becomes problematic in its assumptions.
The Western definition of underground music implies a subversive music scene that
attempts to defy the norms of society, whether politically, culturally, or aesthetically. The
Iranian underground, however, has a much more encompassing meaning than its Western
counterpart. Culture critic and founder of the Tehran-based Hermes Records, Ramin Sadighi,
states that the Iranian underground is defined as: ‘Anything that does not receive an issuing
permit, no matter what the genre.’
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Cultural studies professor Mehdi Semati explains, ‘Since
many of the musical acts in Iran do not have the legal permission, the content becomes
‘underground’ automatically, no matter how mundane the subject matter is’ (Mowlaei, 2007).
That is, the underground is defined by the governmental restrictions and censorship placed on
the music, rather than musical content or message. Any musician or band that is not able to gain
legal government approval automatically becomes ‘underground,’ or unofficial. There is, in fact,
no word in Farsi for ‘underground’ as a subcultural construct. Rather, underground music is
most commonly known as musiqi-ye zirzamini, or ‘basement music,’ literally referencing the
physical location where much of this music takes place. The underground in Iran is entirely a
way of life for unofficial musicians, rather than a term or a style for those who choose to
produce and record away from the mainstream as they convey messages of resistance. It is not
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The other definitions Sadighi presents are more like subcategories of this first definition: ‘2) Cover bands who are limited in
performance since they are not officially distributed; 3) Bands covering social subject matter, life in Tehran; 4) Amateur musicians who
perform in garage shows, street festivals; 5) Those who actually play underground music.’ The final definition implies that Sadighi
believes in the existence of an underground aesthetic, but this was never fully explained in the article. See Sadighi, 2009.
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composed of one, growing subculture but rather, a highly diverse mix of subcultures typically
distinguished by genre, the most prominent being pop, rock, techno, heavy metal, and rap.
By latching on to the anti-authoritarian aspect of Iranian popular music, the Western
media creates an image of a united, burgeoning underground mass, while aiding in the somewhat
mythic claim of ‘authenticity’. The sentimentalised image of Iranian musicians united in a
struggle to be heard publicly is compelling, particularly with the factor of rebellion in a
dangerous political climate. The various sensationalist headlines and even eye-witness accounts
from journalists representing the Western media indicate an overwhelming emphasis on the
political culture surrounding these musicians, rather than an interest in their musical output.
A reoccurring example of such politicisation can be found in the publicity surrounding
the rock band, Hypernova. Formed in the late 1990s under President Khatami, Hypernova went
to the U.S. in 2007 when popular music was suffering severe crackdowns under the conservative
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The band quickly gained popularity in America, as media
coverage was steeped with references to Hypernova’s illegal status in Iran. Hypernova made
headlines as an ‘Immigrant Rock Band’ in America, in a November 2008 Payvand News article,
despite the fact that lead-singer, Raam, is actually a U.S. citizen; he was born in Oregon and
moved back to Iran later in his childhood (Nasri, 2008). An April 2007 MTV broadcast on the
band, used the Beastie Boys’, ‘You Gotta Fight, For Your Right, To Party,’ to draw viewers into
Hypernova’s story, which solely focused on issues of censorship and the dangers of playing
music in the Islamic Republic, ignoring the actual music the band was creating in the U.S. at the
time (MTV, 2007). In a corresponding article, MTV reporter Gil Kaufman asked, ‘…what if the
very act of stepping to the mic means taking your life in your hands?’ (Kaufman, 2007). In an
April 2010 NPR broadcast, Shereen Meraji admitted, ‘I profiled the band…because what’s better
than a rock band from the Islamic Republic of Iran, where it is illegal to rock?’ (Meraji, 2010).
The music combined with the images of illegality and subversive political activity
‘sounds amazing’ to audiences; without the attached meaning, it sometimes becomes ordinary.
Critic Peter Holslin, writing for the alternative San Diego CityBeat, claims that musically, much
of the Iranian rock that is featured in mainstream Western media, is not any different than other
current Western bands. He comments on Hypernova: ‘[They are] catchy, but they’re not
groundbreaking or unique’ (Holslin, 2010). Holslin is among the few to suggest how eager
listeners and critics are to forgive the content of the music simply because of its illegal status.
Despite the multitude of Iranian bands and styles of music that are presented to Western
audiences through mass media, ultimately, the music, no matter how interesting or mundane,
remains subservient to its perceived political and revolutionary message.
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This romanticised politicisation may indicate a nostalgic desire for a revival of
countercultural movements in the West. After all, popular music throughout the twentieth
century has often been depicted as being at the forefront of youth rebellion in the West. Folk
musicians Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger sang pro-union and anti-war songs in 1940s and
1950s America. In the 1960s and 1970s, they were joined by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, as well as
rock bands Jefferson Airplane, and Creedance Clearwater Revival, in civil rights and further
anti-war protest movements. In Britain, this sentiment evolved into punk, which flourished as a
dissident movement challenging not only political and parental authority but also the status quo
of its everyday environment. The Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Sham 69 rallied youth in political
and social protest. The Cold War fostered ‘Deutschpunk’ groups such as Slime in the GDR, and
rock bands such as The Primitives, The Golden Kids, and Plastic People of the Universe, in the
Eastern and Soviet Bloc countries (Pecakz, 1994). Deena Weinstein is one of many critics who
write that youth counterculture, and its accompanying protest music, no longer exists in the same
way as it did for much of the second half of the twentieth century. She explains that throughout
the 1960s ‘Golden Age of Rock Activism’ in North America, ‘Youth involvement in these
protests, and simultaneously their interest in rock music, created the conditions for a
proliferation of protest songs’ (Weinstein, 2006). But in the West today, the mass protest
movement is rare, as is its parallel subversive musical underground. As Western political goals
are projected on to non-Western cultures, so is a sense of longing for the West’s ‘lost’
countercultural or underground movements. This gives rise to a desire, perhaps, to portray the
‘new’ non-Western undergrounds as embodying the ideals of their lost Western counterpart.
Western accounts produce an image of a vibrant Iranian music scene, but often one that
relies heavily on its love of Western rock legends, neglecting any other cultural or musical
elements at play. Brian Glass, in a soundtrack review of Bahman Ghobadi’s 2009 docu-drama
film No One Knows About Persian Cats, compares half of the Iranian tracks to their Western
‘equivalents.’ Take It Easy Hospital is reminiscent of indie-pop bands Vampire Weekend and
Ok Go; Mirza evokes Iron and Wine, and Calexico; Iranian metal band Free Keys mix Metallica,
Led Zeppelin and Stone Temple Pilots; Hichkas’s ‘Ektelaf’ is described as ‘a hip-hop single that
would be at home on American radio’ (Glass, 2010). Another critic for Time Out New York,
David Fear, declares that the film includes ‘Pitchfork-approved indie rock’ (Fear, 2010). He
writes about the Iranian, ‘struggling Springsteens and Strokes fanatics,’ and calls Iranian rapper
Hichkas a ‘Jay-Z wanna-be,’ despite his lyrics being solely in Farsi addressing themes specific
to his urban Tehrani environment, and his unique use of Iranian percussive and rhythmic
elements. In other accounts, Rana Farhan’s rich vocals which integrate Persian vocal tradition
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and melodies have been called the voice of an ‘Iranian Amy Winehouse,’ (Burr, 2010) and
singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo has been dubbed ‘Iran’s Bob Dylan,’ despite the fact that the
former claims to have long-abandoned the politically motivated music from his early career.
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Although Namjoo admires Dylan’s dedication and sacrifice, he says, ‘From a musical
standpoint, our worries are quite different,’ as he chooses to focus on the integration of his music
with Persian rhythmic and instrumental traditions (Hochman, 2010).
As Raymond Williams stated, ‘There are in fact no masses; only ways of seeing
people as masses’ (Williams, 1963). Iranian popular musicians, as with musicians anywhere,
do not exist as a homogenous mass, consciously practising dissidence against an overbearing
regime. Neither are they unified under their dependence upon the influence of Western
popular music. In many cases, musicians are united more by a shared attitude of
experimentation and expression, and yet, the music emerging from the Iranian underground
continues to be assessed on a Western scale of popular taste and style. The portrayal of
relatable, ‘revolutionary’ music, allows the opportunity for Western audiences to live
vicariously through what is often portrayed as the dangerous, but ‘exciting’ lives of Iranian
underground musicians, fighting for ‘Western freedom.’ But if Iranian popular musicians are
continually compared to Western artists or depicted only as political symbols, their
individuality and cultural distinctiveness are lost.
At the other end of the spectrum, music emanating from a distinct place or peoples can
all-too easily become a symbol of a pure, unadulterated cultural artefact. But as John Connell
and Chris Gibson succinctly write, ‘self-contained, authentic meaning-making communities’
do not exist (Connell & Gibson, 2003: 191). Instead, there are mutually entangled, complex
relationships where all cultures are involved with one another - popular music is a reflection
of these relationships, as it acts as the ‘site of symbolic struggle in the cultural sphere’
(Shuker, 2012: 258).
In non-Western music subcultures, authenticity is sometimes represented as an
opposition to Western influence, in the attempt to preserve a cultural form or tradition.
Iranian popular music, however, has questioned the meaning of an ‘authentic’ cultural
practice, following a highly hybridised route over the course of its development. Influenced
by traditions of avaz (art song) and classical Iranian music in the nineteenth century, popular
music-making in Iran reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s, when global influence was at
a high in the country (Miller, 1999). Pop stars such as Googoosh, Ramesh, Dariush, and Sima
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This comparison was first used by the New York Times and used repeatedly since in other news sources. See Fathi, 2007
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Bina were pop culture icons, and their music a reflection of Iranian as well as Western
influences, such as jazz, blues, psychedelic rock, and Latin music. All the same, Western
artists such as Pink Floyd, Queen, and Elton John were equally popular. Iranian culture, as
with most non-Western cultures, continues to integrate influences of outside music and
traditions, as they have become inextricably linked to their own cultural traditions. Much of
current popular culture in Iran reflects the access that many young urban Iranians have to the
West through satellite television and radio, and the internet. Journalist Roxana Saberi further
explains:
…they [the younger generation] never saw the revolution – more and more
young Iranians are in touch with the outside world. Because of technology
– and many of them are tech savvy…they travel abroad, they study abroad,
they have family abroad, relatives overseas (Magee, 2010).
Western popular music culture has become just as much an influence and a part of Iranian youth
culture as Persian musical and poetic traditions. Despite the government’s attempts to control
popular music and its global influences, new forms of modern technology have ensured that
Iran’s cultural borders cannot be closed-off, but rather continue to exchange cultural ideas,
underground or not. The search for the ‘authentic’ fails in this sense that globalisation is a
continual process.
III. Negotiating New Identities in a New Host Environment
In the mid-2000s, rockers 127 migrated to Portland, Oregon in order to advance their
musical careers and freely tour the West. Rather than completely departing or completely
immerging in Persian tradition, their music is a redefinition of Iranian popular music. The
2009 album Khal Punk features tracks that combine Persian percussive and rhythmic
elements with Western influences from pop, rock, jazz, and funk. The album’s title literally
translates as ‘flaw’ or ‘imperfection,’ which 127 translates in terms of their brand of popular
music. Lead singer Sohrab Mohebbi claims, ‘It’s really just this bunch of motley kids,
playing a motley style they’ve created from motley surroundings’ (Reverbnation, 2008). This
fittingly describes the start of so many DIY bands, but more importantly, demonstrates how
127 and other Iranian bands are transforming the impetus and original message of punk as
they embrace their diverse influences and hybridised style. As Iranian musicians explore
language and musical influences outside of Iranian mainstream pop, they are broadening and
creating their own musical styles through cross-cultural collaboration.
In addition to the integration of Western and Persian musical elements, the choice of
language plays an important role in Iranian DIY. Increasingly, English lyrics have been used
by Iranian musicians to spread their music globally as they seek new audiences. The Iranian
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rock band Kiosk, uses a combination of Farsi and English, as the band believes that reaching
beyond Iranian communities is important to the band’s music (Siletz, 2010). Lead singer
Arash Sobhani states, ‘We do not want to make music to get the attention of a particular
group of people…’ (Karami, 2011).
127’s Mohebbi also states the importance of using a globally recognised language:
‘It’s the world’s second language, like [eating] hamburgers’ (Threiner, 2008). He explains
the band’s use of English:
We have to become universal. In our opinion, even if we want to defend our
native and regional spirit in any kind of music itself and not the language of
the lyrics…Using Persian lyrics on Western music does not necessarily
bring about the Iranianization of that music... (Nooshin, 2008)
Mohebbi’s claim that language alone does not convey ‘Iranianization’ of popular music,
raises an important issue in the practice of contemporary Iranian popular music – the constant
search for the balance between ‘authentic’ and ‘borrowed,’ tradition and innovation, and in
this case, home and homeland. 127 do not see the need to rely solely on their native tongue,
when they have been living in a new home, adapting to new elements of their host culture.
Rather than reject the term khal as its literal meaning of ‘imperfection,’ 127 have embraced it
as a result of hybridity within diaspora music. 127 offers just one example of how many
Iranian musicians are subtly drawing attention to their roots, referencing not only Iranian
tradition, but also diaspora and Western pop - and all the while, progressively developing
their own musical voice.
Popular music subcultures often attempt to resist media assumptions and stereotypes
regarding their music or lifestyle (Widdicombe & Wooffitt, 1995). Many Iranian musicians, for
instance, insist they are apolitical, and oppose media-enforced labels. British-Iranian rapper
Reveal acknowledges the tendency to politicise Iranian music, maintaining, ‘We just make
music, but people push things on us rather than discussing the quality of the music and
expression’ (Lashkari et al., 2011). Rock singer Maral Afsharian remarks, ‘I know it’s really
interesting to be an electro/rock female musician from a country that forbids any form of western
music and being a female singer! However, I prefer to attract people to my music rather than my
story’ (Gothic Goddess Media, 2010).
Rather than being passive consumers, however, Iran’s underground musicians are active
participants in a growing music culture. Like all subcultures and all resistance cultures, they may
rely on the media, whether it produces positive or negative publicity, but they also actively
negotiate their own identities, through the complex relationships of resistance and mediation
with their local and global environments. Popular musicians equally participate in the myth of
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authenticity, perpetuating a variety of complex contradictions. For instance, Ashkan
Kooshanejad, of the indie-rock band Take It Easy Hospital, admits that his music has inherently
political roots, but does not agree with the overtly politicised construct of the underground
created by the media. He claims, ‘[our] work is obviously being politicised,’ declaring, ‘I am not
underground; I just play music’ (Lashkari et al., 2011). All the while, despite his vigorous
opposition to the marketing of the Iranian underground as being entirely about political
resistance, Ashkan played the vital role of the protagonist in Bahman Ghobadi’s No One Knows
About Persian Cats, a film that heavily relied on its portrayal of a politically subversive music
underground in Iran, with its official poster advertisements announcing: ‘The film that sings,
howls, and chants freedom!’ and its official trailer proclaiming, ‘In a country on the edge of
revolution, come the new voices of protest…’ (Youtube, 2010).
Participation in a music underground restricted by law alone can imply inherent
subversive activity and anti-authoritarian action regardless of musical or lyrical content.
Frontman Raam of Hypernova, states that in this way, Iranian musicians are united by defiance:
‘...every underground musician is subconsciously defying the authorities. Because they are in all
reality, breaking a stupid law, and even though it’s not enforced at all times, it’s still a law'
(Raam, 2007). In several interviews, Raam glamorises the image of rebellion, catering to the
media stereotype. In a 2007 interview with Freya Petersen of the New York Times, he claimed,
‘We’re jeopardizing our lives every show we play’ (Petersen, 2007). In a 2008 interview with
Iran Times, Raam romanticised this sentiment even further: ‘The underground scene in Iran is
pretty intense. There are many amazing musicians driven by a burning passion who are literally
putting their lives on the line for their music, just like we did. There's nothing more beautiful
than raw and sincere music’ (Nasri, 2008). In the very same interview, however, he conflictingly
stated, ‘I think a lot of people over here [in the U.S.] are unfortunately misinformed about the
realities that exist in Iran. Not to be an apologist for the current regime there, but Iran really is
not as bad as they make it out to be in the media.’
As Tehrani youth gain widespread popularity through internet channels, reaching the
diaspora and beyond, they also learn to a certain degree how to control their image in the
international media. Fereidoun Tafreshi, editor of Zirzamin, a prominent online Iranian music
magazine, criticises some Iranian musicians for using the ‘underground’ label to attract publicity
to their situation:
The pathetic aspect is that, these so called underground bands and the so
called Zirzamini [basement] bands are becoming a fashionable label [that]
bands or artists give themselves. Everybody wants to profile themselves as
[an] underground band nowadays. But in fact they would loooooove to be
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heard and talked about and [p]lay live and everything else that comes with
being ‘on-the-ground’ [sic]. The moment one band label[s] themselves as
underground, they get media attention.
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Tafreshi’s observation of musicians striving for media attention reinforces the contradictory
behaviour of youth subcultures. Underground musicians resist certain stereotypes perpetuated by
the media, but they also embrace media publicity which establishes them as prominent groups in
society (Widdicombe & Wooffitt, 1995).
Supporting the myth that mass culture and media indicate a loss of artistic or intellectual
value, situating ‘authentic’ sounds and styles against the mainstream, symbolically opposing the
‘general public, the underground live in a constant dichotomy (Thornton, 1996). Mass media
continues to be the major location for cultural struggle, as its projection of mass culture
continues to be viewed as a source of ‘corruption’ for art, lacking in creativity and individuality.
Most Iranian rock musicians are perhaps more concerned with a rebellion against mainstream
culture than political subversion. Many musicians and critics express their belief that the
underground represents musical creativity that cannot be found anywhere else. Shahram Sharbaf,
founder of pioneering Iranian underground rock band O-Hum, contends, ‘Maybe it’s good that
the best music is all underground. It keeps us on the edge. It keeps us fresh’ (Levine, 2008). To
continue struggling in the underground towards a seemingly unattainable goal, achieves a certain
authenticity, and in the eyes of young musicians and their audiences, is often seen as better than
succeeding in the mainstream.
Music countercultures and underground subcultures are often split between the desire to
be released commercially and the determination to resist a mainstream label. In such cases,
those, usually pop musicians, who reach ‘above ground’ status, who achieving mainstream
appeal and commercial success, are accused by underground musicians of selling out to the
‘masses.’ Commercial music gains the stigma of artistic compromise. Thomas Solomon writes
that the Turkish underground is split between musicians who want mainstream success and those
who take pride in their underground status, creating tension (Solomon, 2005). British-Asian hip-
hop and French undergrounds also illustrate a similar division between achieving commercial
success and retaining a sense of authenticity in the underground (Huq, 2006a, 2006b). In Iran,
this issue is complicated by the fact that there is a very limited commercial music industry.
Morad Mansouri, reporting for PBS’s Tehran Bureau in October 2010, explained that the
underground is, ‘…not a protest against market norms imposed by a constructive and
domineering music industry, but rather a samizdat art form in a country whose rulers abhor
60
Fereidoun Tafreshi, interview by author, email correspondence, June 12, 2011.
Steward 13
music altogether and have consigned most expressions of it to the realm of the forbidden until
roughly eight years ago…’ (Mansouri, 2011). It becomes difficult to ‘sell out’ to the mainstream
when mainstream status is almost impossible to attain, at least nationally. Musicians can be self-
conflicted as well, trying to balance their underground identity with the longing for
acknowledgement. While Maral Afsharian revels in an ‘exciting’ underground, she still desires
for music restrictions to be lifted in Iran so she may release records and perform freely without
restraint. Until then, she continues to use social-networking sites to build relationships with fans
across the world. She is not alone as most Iranian rock musicians, despite their defence of the
underground, seek recognition in the public domain and want to spread their music in Iran and
beyond. There can be a stigma attached to musicians who decide to leave, as they are presumed
not only to have sold out to the mainstream, but also to the West. The label of authenticity is
then attributed to musicians who remain in their country of origin, and even more to those who
continue to make music unofficially.
IV. The ‘Voice of the Dispossessed’
Commonly, DIY subcultures are known for their roots in class or economic difference.
However, these practices can differ greatly depending on the surrounding social climate.
Whereas in Britain, the punk movement stemmed from issues of class and economic
background, in America, it challenged the state of music at the time, taking on a narcissistic
and even elitist tone (Irving, 1988). British punk turned towards a collective political
radicalism while American punk became a more individualistic expression of dissatisfaction.
Many Iranian musicians pride themselves on what they consider to be their humble
origins as notions of DIY and elements of the punk rock tradition live on through a type of
collective resistance that could be rooted in both its British and American counterparts.
Typically, underground musicians claim to have no mainstream aspirations since too much
popularity is seen as detrimental to their underground reputation. Retaining control over the
creative process is of foremost concern as it signifies authenticity in the music-making
process. In addition, the appearance of DIY’s low-budget nature projects a sense of an honest
vision, an authentic musical truth that is at once individual and communal as it is shared by
others in the underground. Underground music gains authenticity as a pure, innocent sound,
or as Michael Newman states, the true ‘voice of the dispossessed’ (Newman, 2009).
However, there are elements to this discussion of authenticity that are often ignored in
media reports and even academic discourse. In Tehran, the participants of underground rock
usually come from a large burgeoning middle-class urban population, where, to quote the
political theorist Ernesto Laclau’s post-Marxist theory of populism, ‘Identity as a people
Steward 14
plays a much more important role than the identity as a class’ (Irving, 1988). The main focus
of the underground subculture continues to be the expression of Iranian youth as a whole.
There are others reasons that could be relevant here, such as the much explored notion of
Western society as individualist vs. non-Western society as collectivist, but in this case, class
plays an important role. When the vast majority of participants of rock belong to middle and
upper classes, the issue of class seems to be forgotten as music becomes a collective,
community-based activity. One could even say it is ignored, as it seems to exclude lower or
working-class youth who do not have the same access to internet and musical equipment to
participate in the music DIY underground. Thus, Newman’s ‘voice of the dispossessed’ takes
on a more singular meaning, to become a characterization of those who seemingly have a
limited voice against authority, rather than those who are economically or socially
disadvantaged.
Iranian middle class and upper class youth are increasingly being heard above the
authoritative mantle of the conservative Iranian government, using internet and media portals to
express their concerns and their creative output to the rest of the world. They are participating in
mass movements such as the 2009 Green Movement, where they demanded change after a
disappointing election result shrouded in controversy. They are strengthening relationships with
diaspora communities and developing their international media image as one of ‘The Iranian
youth.’ But nonetheless, these voices are a fraction of Iran’s emergent youth population as the
country’s poverty line hovers around 50%, with a climbing unemployment rate.
74
Many included
in this percentage reside in remote rural areas with little accessibility to the internet or the music
produced in the Tehrani underground.
Again, there is another element to this discussion. Far from being concealed in the
underground, many Iranian popular musicians are becoming progressively well-known. The
underground’s virtual existence combined with its popularisation in the Western media, has
encouraged its growth as unofficial music continues to gain global popularity. In Tehran, illegal
transactions of popular music far outnumber legal exchanges of government-approved music, as
internet technology allows easier accessibility as the latest underground tracks are usually
available for free download online (Lutfi, 2007). Self-produced, homemade music videos,
uploaded to the internet, have also become increasingly common. Tafreshi reiterates:
Underground is a misleading terminology…The so called underground
musicians are in fact…very visible and an integrated part of artistic society
of Iran…people tend to think that these artists are trying to hide from
74
This statistic includes both absolute and relative poverty figures. see Iran: Rising Poverty, Declining Labour Rights, League
for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, 2013
Steward 15
people…And as such they refer [to] them as underground. But the main
problem is that the official channels do not allow them to release their work
and [they] are not recognized [by the government]…
76
Underground culture, like many precedent countercultures throughout the twentieth century,
could be on the road to becoming mainstream despite its unofficial nature.
Conclusion
Although subcultures rely on notions of authenticity to assert their identities,
authenticity is defined by romantic expectation rather than reality. Thus, the pursuit of
authenticity is rarely wholly fulfilled. Authenticity may never be achieved but that misses the
point. The danger of focusing on the idea of an authentic practice, as often seen in the media,
or even by musicians themselves, is that only one element of music-making is emphasised.
Musicians come together, defining music culture as a supposedly authentic, coherent,
product, ignoring all of the cross-cultural interactions and negotiations as well as individual
experiences that occurred to produce such unique musical encounters. A study on the various
ways the search for authenticity takes shape, begins to illustrate the complexities of a
developing subculture. The idealized images of underground culture may perpetuate various
myths of authenticity, but upon closer observation, they also draw attention to how musicians
navigate and cultivate their own image in the media and the global world.
At the heart of this discussion is how young Iranian musicians are traversing
traditional notions of DIY culture and readapting them, fundamentally and aesthetically.
Using the impetus and original ideas from Western punk and DIY movements, musicians are
crossing musical boundaries as they combine these influences with local and traditional
rhythms and sounds. New Iranian rock bands not only express themselves individually, but
also the cultural in-between-space they collectively find themselves in, as Iranian popular
music culture has become a bricolage of global cultural influence. As young Iranian
musicians persistently re-invent and re-adapt as they respond to their surrounding cultural
climates, they continue to shape their evolving musical identity while providing new models
of expression for youth generations around the world.
76
Tafreshi, interview by author.
Steward 16
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