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RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK
DE RUEHKB #0014/01 0091005
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091005Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0583
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000014 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AJ IR PGOV PHUM PINR
SUBJECT: YOUNG IRANIANS GET CRAZY AT IRANIAN ROCK STAR 
CONCERT 
 
Young Iranians Rock Out in Baku 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  On December 14 Swedish-based Iranian pop star Arash Labaf 
(originally from Iranian Azerbaijan) gave a concert at the 
Heydar Aliyev Sports complex in Baku.  Although similar 
concerts have occurred in Dubai, this was the first-ever 
performance in Azerbaijan of an internationally known Iranian 
rock (actually reggae/rap/pop) star.  Despite ticket costs 
ranging from $60-$150 each) the 7,000 seat complex was packed 
with Iranian and Azerbaijani gilded youth and their friends. 
While unable to secure a ticket, Iran watcher has talked 
separately to five Iranian audience members, and viewed more 
than fifty photos and a video excerpt taken by participants 
in the event. 
 
Iranian Flags and Facepaint 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Attendees described the  crowd as good natured, noisy, 
and boisterous.  Interlocutors estimated that young Iranians 
made up about half of the capacity crowd (one estimated sixty 
percent).  Photographs and the video excerpt show large 
numbers of youth coming out of their seats to the open area 
in front of the stage where some can be seen dancing in 
circles (males and females together), or moving to the music 
with their arms held high above their heads.  Several 
photographs show youth carrying Iranian flags, and attendees 
related seeing male and female faces painted with the Iranian 
flag's colors (two of the photos seen showed individuals with 
such markings.  Consistent with interlocutor tales of the 
lifestyle of many Iranian students here, men in the photos 
are beardless or sport "arty" goatees. Several photos show 
women in tight leather pants or hip boots (no women with head 
coverings are visible). 
 
Belly Dancing and Fireworks 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Photos and video indicate that the concert was a typical 
pop extravaganza, with a pseudo-oriental back-up touches in 
the form of scantily clad belly dancers (some in spangled 
bikinis), fireworks shooting from the stage, fire eaters, and 
suggestive dancing.  Given that none of this is remotely 
legal in Iran (where even audience members could be subjected 
to heavy fines or whipping) one attendee commented that 
though boisterous the crowd was surprisingly well-behaved. 
An Iranian-American University professor currently teaching 
in Baku who attended the event asserted that the concert 
touched on a "deep-seated desire" of Iranian youth to 
participate in international/U.S. youth and pop culture.  He 
urged that the USG and others do more to speak to "their 
yearning for modernization and reality."  He opined that such 
collective events also build interest awareness and interest 
in the possibilities of civil society, and expressed the hope 
that Baku would soon host more such "liberating" popular 
events with Iranian appeal. 
 
Fans Travel From Iran 
--------------------- 
 
¶4.  In addition to Baku-based Iranians, two Iranian student 
interviewed reported talking to young Iranians who had 
traveled to Baku from the Iranian Azerbaijan cities of Tabriz 
and Erbil.  One such allegedly described himself as a student 
and "amateur DJ" from Tabriz who claimed to have been 
obsessed with American rap music since the age of ten.  One 
Baku-based Iranian student related that many of the Iranian 
students studying with her had stayed in Baku through the 
holidays rather than return to Iran in order to attend the 
concert.  The student, an active feminist who did not attend 
the concert, characterized the widespread Iranian youth 
attendance as reflecting a self-indulgent, relatively free 
and pampered social life which she claimed exists even inside 
Iran among the children of the well-to-do and regime elite, 
"though always behind closed doors."  In this context, she 
said the concert attendance and dress/behavior of many 
Iranians as no surprise and characteristic of a widespread 
lifestyle that she described as "wannabee European." 
Claiming that many Iranian students in Baku come from 
families with indirect regime ties, she cautioned against 
reading too great a political message in the gilded youth's 
behavior, adding that "most of us (Iranians) are forced to be 
 
BAKU 00000014  002 OF 002 
 
 
two-faced, and neither of them is real." 
 
Baku - A "Liberating" Cultural Magnet for Iranians? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶5.  A prominent Azerbaijani journalist with connections to 
the travel industry told Iran watcher that some Iranians had 
come from Iran in chartered vehicles to the event.  He opined 
that this first ever Iranian-oriented pop concert in Baku 
amounted to a kind of milestone in Azerbaijan's gradual 
emergence as a cultural tourism center for Iranians, 
especially Azeri-speaking natives of Iranian Azerbaijan, and 
claimed that Azerbaijan now ranks next to (more expensive) 
Dubai as the most favorite foreign destination for middle 
class Iranians seeking to let loose.  In the case of Iranian 
youth, he noted that the attraction includes escaping the 
bans on public dancing, music, and male/female mixing. 
 
Waiting for Googoosh 
-------------------- 
 
¶6.  A wealthy Baku-based Iranian businessman with ties to the 
concert organizers called the concert a great success, and 
said that promoters are now considering the possibility of 
putting on future concerts with (banned in Iran) Iranian 
balladeer Daryoush Eghbali "and even (U.S.-based mega-Iranian 
pop star) Googoosh."  While enthusiastically endorsing these 
possibilities, the businessman speculated that the Iranian 
government may consider concerts with such stars as an 
"unfriendly act" and attempt to pressure the Government of 
Azerbaijan to withhold permission.  Note and comment: Neither 
the businessman nor any other interlocutor was aware of any 
government of Iran reaction before or after the Arash 
concert, this may be a reflection of lack of information on 
this "first-time" Baku event.  End Note and Comment. 
LU