ABSTRACT
Television had been introduced to Iran in 1959. The period before the 1979 revolution in Iran was a time of conflict, more extreme than in many other countries where diverse movements against colonialism, for civil rights and for new social freedoms were changing lives, attitudes and cultural practices. The intersection of new technologies, including the audio cassette, and "modernizing" or "universalizing" attitudes, ensured that the Iranian music would come as popular. As well as the often paradoxical notions of East, West, tradition and modernity, this chapter considers the effects of social class on musical practices, as this was an explicit concern at this time, in the entertainment world as elsewhere. It gives an overview of some of the period's popular music stars, Delkash, Vigen, Hayedeh, Susan and Aghasi, before turning to its superstar, Googoosh. The chapter examines the politically significant work of Dariush and Farhad, before considering the less mainstream world of beat.
