use of Shajarian’s songs to promote conservative ideals following the controversial result of the 2009 presidential elections demonstrates that the government are more than happy to use music for their own means when necessary. While it is common for the permission-seeking process to take an extraordinarily long time for pop and rock musicians in Iran, with their applications most often resulting in denial, this is the first time that one of Iran’s most famous classical musicians or composers has been subjected to the same amount of scrutiny during the application process. As this section has demonstrated, traditional musicians also face many difficulties, but their main concern is that the government does not seriously support them.
A conductor for the national orchestra? Cultural Censorship in Iran
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During recent months, the repeated and undue interference of the Ministry of Culture in the process of selecting a conductor for the National Orchestra has resulted in Iran having no conductor at all for its national symphony orchestra. The Technical Council is the authority responsible for choosing a conductor for the orchestra and musicians have little say over who gets chosen. Orchestra musicians have been complaining for a long time about the inconveniences caused by the interventions of the Ministry of Culture in the ‘technical aspects’ of the orchestra. In a press conference Hossein Alizadeh said, “Unfortunately, in all these years, they have not only disregarded music, but they have also pushed music out of its correct path. An orchestra can only function when you have competent players and trained conductors and composers. These activities should start in high schools and authorities should be able to cater for these needs. Persian, http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2010/05/100510_l50_shajarian_ promo.shtml.