Discrimination has made Iranian music a male domain

Shahrzad News

“There are a few female music bands, but the work involved in getting performance permission from the authorities is so time-consuming that the performers eventually become exhausted and give up. The saddest thing is that as a result many talents fade away before they can blossom.”

ShahrzadNews:Iran’s music industry has become male-dominated thanks to constant discriminatory policies and official silence with regard to the status of female musicians. In the many music festivals held up and down the country women who for years have worked hard to help create much of the material are virtually ignored.

Pari Maleki is a renowned singer and director of the Khaniya Music Ensemble, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Iran’s Cultural Heritage News Agency asked for her reflections on the sad status of the industry.

“For many years now,” she told them, “music festival organizers have been silent during opening and closing ceremonies about the contribution made by female musicians. Though they also regularly stage events which pay tribute to the industry’s heroes, the achievements of female musicians are ignored. It is as if part of the music industry had never existed”.

“There are a few female music bands, but the work involved in getting performance permission from the authorities is so time-consuming that the performers eventually become exhausted and give up. The saddest thing is that as a result many talents fade away before they can blossom.”

Maleki added that male musicians – with certain exceptions – are indifferent to state-discrimination against their female colleagues. “We don’t really expect them to do much for us. I must however mention Mr. Hussein Alizadeh; he cares about women’s music. We appreciate his sincerely-held liberal views on the subject. But it’s as if half the music industry was seriously ill while the other half just watches and does nothing. That makes it even harder for us to bear.”

Maleki says the apathy of the country’s female population is in part to blame for the official silence on the issue. “Sadly, women who organize social events don’t ask female music groups to perform, another reason why the industry is dominated by men. And incidentally, we are also against gender-segregation in music groups.”