Iran's Minister of Culture: Some Representatives of the Leader are Completely Opposed to Music

The Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance stated that some Friday prayer leaders and representatives of the Supreme Leader in the provinces are 'generally opposed to music' and are 'pressuring the judiciary' to prevent concerts. In an interview with a special supplement of the Iran newspaper on the occasion of the third anniversary of Hassan Rouhani's government, published on Monday, June 14, Ali Jannati said that Friday prayer leaders 'generally' support holding concerts. According to Mr. Jannati, 'in specific cases,' some representatives of the Supreme Leader in the provinces 'impose their personal views' and pressure the judiciary to prevent concerts from being held. He added: 'They base their judgments on their own interpretations and do not pay attention to the Leader's opinions and are generally opposed to music. We cannot accept this.' Mr. Jannati mentioned that in Razavi Khorasan province, the prosecutor of Mashhad does not allow 'any concert' to be held, even traditional music concerts, and the prosecutor of Nishapur has 'unjustly' prevented concerts by Shahram Nazeri and Kayhan Kalhor. In recent weeks, the Nishapur prosecutor has canceled Shahram Nazeri's concert twice and Kayhan Kalhor's concert once. In April, a traditional music concert by Ali Zand Vakili in Shandiz, Mashhad, was also canceled. The cancellation of these concerts led to protests from the government spokesman and the House of Music of Iran. In recent years, after the opposition of Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, to holding concerts in this city, several concerts have been canceled in this city and other cities in Razavi Khorasan province. In this context, Alireza Rashidian, the governor of Razavi Khorasan, emphasized on June 7 that there is 'no geographical limitation' in the law for holding concerts and requested the judiciary to announce any potential prohibition on holding concerts in this province so that 'everyone knows their responsibilities.' On the same day, Hadi Sadeqi, the cultural deputy of the judiciary, implicitly confirmed the prohibition of holding concerts in Razavi Khorasan province in an interview with the Shargh newspaper. The Iranian Minister of Culture on May 5 also referred to the interference of prosecutors and the judiciary as the 'main obstacle' to holding some concerts and mentioned correspondence with judicial officials for the execution of licensed concerts. Mr. Jannati, in his interview with Iran newspaper about the results of his correspondence with judiciary officials, said: 'Overall, many places have improved, but we have problems in some areas. We need to sit down and reach understanding, interaction, and cooperation.' He added: 'If anyone wants to draw lines in this area and state their duties, and both sides want to exercise their legal rights, the system will naturally suffer losses.' A day before the Minister's statements were published, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman of the judiciary, emphasized preventing concerts that are 'against public decency,' stating that if concert organizers do not provide guarantees in this regard, prosecutors will prevent concerts from being held.