Prima Ballerina Haydeh Changizian Dreams of Reopening A Ballet School in Iran
By Katy Shahandeh
Haydeh Changizian is an artist with an illustrious past. Formerly a Prima Ballerina with the National Ballet of Iran – before its shutdown after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 – she has...
Iran’s Rudaki Orchestra Performs Songs by Elvis, Sinatra
Nima Fathi conducted the Rudaki Orchestra in a series of performances of American pop songs by the likes of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra on June 18 and 19 at the Vahdat (Rudaki) concert...
Shirin Neshat, Actor Abbas Bakhtiari Star in Shakespeare’s Tempest
By Sara Damavandan
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is the author of a tragicomedy called "The Tempest," which is believed to have been inspired by real-life...
Sixteen-Month Incarceration of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Inspires New London Play
By Tara Biglari
A play inspired by the plight of British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – a Thomson Reuters Foundation employee incarcerated in Iran for more than a year and separated from her husband and young daughter...
Vigen, Iran’s ‘Sultan of Pop’: Profile
Vigen was Iran’s first male pop star. He was known as “the Sultan of pop,” and one of the first entertainers in the country to perform with a guitar in the 1950s and 1960s.
He...
Singing About Hijab: Pop Vocalist Golazin Speaks to Kayhan Life
By Ahmad Rafat
Golazin Ardestani, better known as “Golazin” or “Gola,” is an Iranian-born Trap pop and urban singer. She has recently released her latest single, Haghmeh, which is about the mandatory hijab imposed on Iranian...
Oscars Selection Process Criticized by Iran’s Filmmakers
By Azadeh Karimi
The Farabi Cinema Foundation (FCF), which promotes the Islamic Republic’s film industry abroad, has selected “Finding Farideh,” a feature-length documentary, as a contender in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the...
Sad Pop Songs Harm Iranian Youth’s Mental Health, Sociologist Says
Contemporary Iranian pop music could cause severe depression in young people, the Iranian Labor News agency (ILNA) has reported, citing Dr. Amir Mahmoud Harirchi, an associate professor at the Tehran University of Social Welfare...
Qazvin University Bars Women Musicians from Performing at Charity Event
May 23, 2019 - The president of Qazvin’s Islamic Azad University Morteza Mousakhani barred female members of the “Pathetique” string orchestra from appearing on stage during a scheduled charity concert on May 21, Iranian...
Playing Heavy Metal and Drumming as a Woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran...
By Natasha Phillips
Pioneering Iranian musician Shirin Vazei has played the drums for several rock bands in Iran, taking the heavy metal scene by storm while shaking up gender stereotypes in her home country.
Heavy metal...
