When the Shiraz Festival of Arts (in Iran) began in late 60s and early 70s, it brought with it a mixture of disbelief, resentment and at the same time, admiration and pride. At the time when there were no social media and internet, the ordinary man’s access to the Festival’s events was limited to the national television broadcasts and the printed press.
Even then, not all households had television sets to watch. A considerable proportion of the public – particularly in small cities and villages - informed themselves of social and political goings-on and trends by attending the local mullah’s sermons.
At the time, that is more than 50 years ago, organizing cultural and artistic events in Iran that bore the elements of western modernity, was inevitably met with resentment and rejection by radical Islam.
Khomeini had called Shiraz Festival the “festival of vulgar arts”!
The 1979 revolution left nothing of the Shiraz Festival of Arts nor did it allow music and arts in general, nor any hope in those who had dreamt of Iran’s development and progress and its march towards a prosperous future. It killed all aspirations in those for whom Iran was a cradle of arts, beauty, progress and an example of a successful country in the region. What the revolution brought for the people of Iran was silence, destruction of previous achievements, and an artless society; what it gave the region was a gift of extremism, threat, the end of a dream of an example of a prosperous and progressive Iran, and a backward and medieval interpretation of Islam and the Shiite faith.
The Iranian Revolution not only brought profound transformation within the country but had a deep impact on political and social trends of its neighboring countries also. The revolution resuscitated and strengthened extremist movements the same way the Shah’s cultural and reform programs had inspired his neighbors and made them follow such programs in earnest.
It is hard to believe that in 1970s, Googoosh’s songs (a popular female singer) were broadcast from Saudi Arabia’s radio and television networks. There were cinemas in Saudi Arabia, and Iran’s neighbors inspired by changes and progression in Iran, followed suit.
With Shiraz Festival in mind, I attended the second winter music festival in Tantora at AlUla Medina in the north western region of Saudi Arabia. The Tantora Festival is a cultural event aimed at bringing together music and arts of the East and the West and combat – at least in a cultural sense - fundamentalism and extremist movements.
The Tantora music festival in a religious and highly traditional country like Saudi Arabia is a huge undertaking, effective and indeed an achievement in line with the new generation’s aspirations for change and reforms. The participation of famed international artists, singers and musicians at the month-long Tantora festival over the past two years, demonstrates the deep appreciation and recognition by artists that this region needs support for reformist changes. It is hoped that this festival would become an inspiration for other Muslim countries the same way that the late Shah Mohammad Reza’s reforms was seen as progressive and daring.
In the meantime, the Tantora Festival in its last two days was – for the first time - host to Iranian artists to prove that cultural and artistic activities recognize no frontiers, and that in circumstances where Iranian singers are not allowed to perform in their own countries, this opportunity afforded them within the realms of the most religious and the most traditional Muslim country in the world.
For the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia, Iranian singers performed on Saudi soil.
Iranian singers who participated in Tantora Festival maintained that their presence at the Festival was not a political gesture, but to support the sublime idea of “music without frontiers” with the purpose of introducing Iranian music and culture to other people. They said they would welcome any constructive change for the betterment of human society.
The suffering, deprivation and calamity the peoples of this region have endured over the past decades have been enormous. There are no frontiers for violence and extremism either. They can easily move from place to place, cross frontiers and bring with them destruction, poverty and ignorance.
The open-mindedness, courage and vision with which Iranian singers participated in the Festival, was admirable.
Artists are ambassadors for those who like and believe in them. Those who sang in the Festival were “crème de la crème” of Iranian singers and representatives of an array of age groups and tastes within the Iranian society. They were the voice of a society eager to be heard, filled with hope and appetite for happiness. This voice was heard by Iranians from a neighboring country not far from them.
It is always difficult to start a new movement and encourage change in a society. It is always and inevitably faced with resistance from different individuals, groups and organizations. There is no doubt, however, that there will be voices and groups who will gradually join in support of a cultural movement the region so badly needs. It is an honor and a pleasure indeed that prominent and popular Iranian singers among representatives of other countries are on the forefront of the movement that supports such reforms and rejects fundamentalism.
Camelia Entekhabifard is the Independent Persian editor-in-chief
