Table of Contents

Introduction




Chapter One. A Political Overview: From King to Clergy




- Like father, like son? The Pahlavi dynasty and its downfall
- The new constitution, contradictions and conflicts of interest
- Repression and resistance: 30 years of two steps forward and one shove back
- Let's party like it's 680 AD
- Conclusion




Chapter Two. Music in Iran: From Pop to Pariah




- Musical monarchies and poetic politics
- A history of pop music in Iran
- Conclusion




Chapter Three. Music and Islam




- Pop music and illegality in the Islamic Republic of Iran
- In the shadows of an Islamised pop industry
- 'Illusions' of grandeur and rock's rebirth in the Islamic Republic
- Conclusion




Chapter Four. Boulevard of Virtual Dreams: TehranAvenue's Online Music Festival




- TAMF: History and goals of the festival
- TAMF86, a free radical?
- Participating and observing




Chapter Five. Inventing Identity through Significant Songs: Case Studies of Selected Participants from TAMF86 Online Music Festival




- Gatchpazh
- Bijan Moosavi
- Free Keys
- Yellow Dogs
- Kian
-What's in it for us?
- Conclusion




Chapter Six. Smoggy + City = Dirty Rock?




- Introduction
- Orchestrations of identity: composing the 'self' in terms of local and global ideas about 'Iranian-ness'
- 'Environmental determinism'
- Conclusion




Chapter Seven. 'I Am an Original Iranian Man': Inventing Inventive Identities in Tehran's Unofficial Rock Music




- Writing the wrongs: challenging stereotypes in stereo sound
- Self-confidences: team aesthetic in an 'each to their own society'
- 'Khaleh zanak': the scene is cutting off its nose to spite its face
- Conclusion




Chapter Eight: 127 and Hypernova Abandon the 'Axis of Evil' for 'The Great Satan'




- Small steps towards a giant leap: Tour preparations and problems
- 'Khal Punk' vs. 'Through the Chaos': A comparative analysis of the musical and lyrical content of 127 and Hypernova's latest recordings
- Composing clichés: Playing on being Iranian for commercial gain
- Electronic audiences
- Conclusion




Chapter Nine. The 2009 Presidential Elections and Potential Futures for Unofficial Rock Music in Iran




- A brief history of presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran
- Setting the foundations for change: pre-election hype inside and outside Iran
-June 12, 2009: an election day for the history books
-Musical reactions to Iran's election result




Conclusion
Reference List
Index

Promotional Information

Highly original research into Iran's unofficial rock music scene in an ever-changing and notoriously unstable political climate. 

About the Author

Dr. Bronwen Robertson received her PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is currently the research manager and editor for Small Media in London and is working with her team to increase the flow of information into and out of Iran.

Reviews

"Based on fearless fieldwork in Iran, Bronwen Robertson offers an eye-opening account of music in Iran's illegal music world. This book offers a rich and compelling portrait of courageous musicians in a part of the world that requires such courage." -Timothy D. Taylor, Professor, Departments of Ethnomusicology and Musicology, UCLA.

"Reverberations of Dissent is a sympathetic and informed account of the lives of musicians in Teheran's underground rock scene. Robertson documents ingenious efforts to evade censorship, find instruments, equipment and audiences under hostile conditions in the Islamic Republic. There's much food for thought here about the relationship between frustration and creativity. It is also a valuable addition to a growing literature on rock beyond the West." -Martin Stokes, St. John's College, Oxford

"Engaged in the underground scene as a musician and an ethnomusicologist, Bronwen Robertson introduces us to the musicians whose lives form the communities of dissent in modern Iran. The reverberations sounded by Iran's popular-music underground and captured in this remarkable book will resonate for readers seeking to understand the Middle East in the present era of unprecedented cultural and political change." —Philip V. Bohlman, Mary Werkman Distinguished Service Professor of Music and the Humanities, University of Chicago, Author of Focus: Music, Nationalism, and the Making of the New Europe (Routledge 2011)