VZCZCXRO7854
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHTRO
DE RUEHIT #0461/01 3501453
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161453Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9393
INFO RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ISTANBUL 000461 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR MURRAY; BERLIN FOR ROSENSTOCK-STILLER; BAKU FOR 
MCCRENSKY; BAGHDAD FOR POPAL AND HUBAH; ASHGABAT FOR 
TANGBORN; DUBAI FOR IRPO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINS SOCI TU IR
SUBJECT: IRAN/CULTURE:  SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK AND ROLL 
STAR 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: An Iranian rock band described to us on 
December 8-9 Tehran's "small but crazy" underground club 
scene, where drugs are cheap and easy to find, creative 
expression is at its most free, and participants are among 
Iran's most tech-savvy citizens.  They said the regime's 
fierce post-election political clamp-down has not impacted 
the underground music scene, as the regime remains too 
preoccupied with political protests to go after cultural 
targets like rock music.  The band members, though not active 
with the Green Movement, dismiss the regime as out of touch 
and certain to fall, though they also told us that a majority 
of Iranians remain "stuck" in a conservative, traditional, 
inward-looking worldview.  As a result they assess that 
political change will only come slowly.  Comment:  These 
musicians -- astute, well-informed, and resourceful 
20-somethings -- offered up an insightful glimpse into a 
vibrant but mostly hidden sub-culture in Iran.  Their views 
reinforced the impression that Iranian society spans a far 
broader and more complex spectrum than many outside observers 
realize, and underscored the possibility that the regime -- 
though radicalizing -- remains calculating and sensible 
enough not to pick unnecessary fights on social issues, at 
least while it is engaged so desperately in trying to counter 
more immediate political threats.  End comment. 
 
The Ayatollahs of Rock and Rolla 
----------------------------- 
¶2.  SBU) ConGen Istanbul's NEA Iran Watcher and other 
colleagues met December 8-9, 2009 in Istanbul with an Iranian 
"underground" alternative rock band (please protect) called 
the "Yellow Dogs," after they applied to the Consulate for 
visas to perform a concert tour in the United States.  The 
four band members, who enjoy a growing local and internet 
following, shared their perspective about life as rock 
musicians in an Iran beset by growing pressure on political 
oppositionists and widening fractures within Iranian society. 
 
 
What can a poor boy do but sing for a rock and roll band? 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶3.  (SBU) The four musicians, in their early twenties, were 
first inspired by rock music that they heard as pre-teens 
during the more socially tolerant Khatami presidency.  They 
said that rock music, despite its English-language lyrics, 
spoke to them more viscerally about conditions they faced in 
Iran than traditional Persian music did.  With the support of 
their (well-educated, professional) parents, they decided to 
forego more traditional Iranian academic pursuits like 
engineering to pursue music full-time.  The self-taught 
musicians began performing in high-school, quickly 
discovering Tehran's "small but crazy" underground music 
scene, a scene that one band member insisted grew 
significantly in size and creativity after Ahmadinejad's 2005 
election.  They estimated that several thousand Tehran youths 
are die-hard alternative- and hard-rock fans who regularly 
risk fines and detention to attend underground concerts and 
clubs, and that there are similar followings in Esfahan, 
Shiraz, and Tabriz. 
 
Comfortably numb 
------------ 
¶4.  (SBU) The band members acknowledged that many 
participants in the underground scene regularly use illegal 
drugs (but denied any use themselves).  They said drugs such 
as heroin and opium are easy to find and inexpensive, but are 
being eclipsed in popularity by amphetamines typically 
produced in local home-labs.  They acknowledged that despite 
the regime's increasing radicalization in most other aspects 
of politics and social policy, the GoI continues to follow a 
progressive approach to treating drug use and abuse, for 
example by referring users to treatment clinics and 
medication rather than jail sentences. 
 
Almost cut my hair 
---------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) Though their music is not overtly political or 
oppositionist the Yellow Dogs described the risks of playing 
any kind of rock and roll in Iran, recounting several 
occasions in 2007-8 when police raided closed-door concerts 
they were holding (typically in sound-proofed basements or 
warehouses in isolated neighborhoods).  One raid led to the 
detention of one band member under official charges of "Satan 
worship".  A combination of bribes and parental pleading got 
him released after two weeks in detention.  All the band 
members recounted run-ins with police and Basijis over "style 
and clothing immoralities" including one band member's 
afro-style hair, which the police forced him to cut off by 
 
ISTANBUL 00000461  002 OF 004 
 
 
seizing his driver's license until he did so.  (He did, but 
grew it back again.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) One band-member described the underground scene as a 
community that offers "the most free expression" in Iran, 
where all political, cultural, and religious views are 
tolerated, and where there is a lively exchange not only of 
music, but art, books, photos, and other forms of artistic 
expression.  "Even Ahmadinajed's people can come listen to 
our music," one told us, though he admitted few do.  He added 
that most of his peers spend their days (when not working or 
playing music) just like western youth do, playing video 
games on Macintosh computers and Xbox game platforms, buying 
clothes from the Gap or Benetton, watching online TV ("Lost" 
and Oprah are current favorites with Iran's youth), and 
blogging.  They told us with bemusement that they regularly 
play "Guitar Hero" online and beat players from the US or 
Europe.  When they tell their online competitors that they 
are from Iran, the other players express shock that Iranians 
are allowed to use the internet -- and that they are so good 
at video games. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The band members told us the social crackdowns on 
that community ebb and flow depending on whether the regime 
is feeling self-confident or vulnerable, as well as the 
degree to which the regime thinks the targeted community will 
comply or resist.  One band member described the police as 
being more selective now about who they detain.  Currently, 
he said, the regime is totally focused on trying to squash 
election-related protests.  As one musician speculated, 
either the regime does not have the time to go after 
non-protesting young Iranians for crimes as mundane as 
clothing violations or loud music, or it has made a conscious 
decision not to do so, in order not to make more enemies than 
necessary among Iran's youth. 
 
Nowhere Man 
----------- 
¶8. (SBU) The musicians described Iranian society as two main 
communities that are worlds apart in values and orientation. 
One side is made up of urban dwellers who tend to be 
well-educated, well-versed not only in Persian poetry and 
classics but literary and artistic works from other cultures, 
have some informed knowledge of the outside world through 
television and personal travel, and want Iran to be more 
integrated into that world.  On the other side is perhaps a 
majority of Iranians who are deeply religious and 
conservative, predominantly rural, not educated beyond 
high-school, tend to have read little beyond the Koran and 
local newspapers, and are unaware of global developments or 
modern technologies.  "Many of them have never left Iran or 
even their own province; they never used a computer, never 
watched a foreign film, and never heard of the Beatles." 
 
¶9. (SBU) This traditional community, because its worldview is 
so limited, is an easy target for the regime's anti-western, 
adversarial, black-and-white rhetoric.  The band members 
acknowledged that most of these voters probably voted for 
Ahmadinejad, and agreed that even though Mousavi probably won 
the elections Ahmadinejad retains great popularity with this 
group.  Moreover, they cautioned, if any foreign country ever 
attacks Iran the entire conservative community will rally 
behind the regime, and would probably be joined by a 
significant part of the more urban, westernized Iranian 
community too. 
 
There's Something Happening Here 
------------------------------ 
¶10.  (SBU) Three of the four band members said they have not 
participated in the post-election protests though they 
sympathize with the protesters, goals.  The lead singer has 
marched several times, explaining he could not stay home 
while his parents marched.  The band agrees that the size and 
energy of the November 4 and December 7 protests confirm that 
the Green Movement -- though not cohesive and lacking in 
strong leadership -- has become a self-sustaining national 
movement.  "The government needs to find a way to deal with 
these people in a peaceful way."  They predicted that in 
coming years a new generation of leaders would emerge, 
university students and 20-somethings who are already campus 
and neighborhood leaders below the radar of national 
attention or security force scrutiny. 
 
Same as the Old Boss 
------------------- 
¶11.  (SBU) The band members described former PM Mousavi as 
"really no different" than Ahmadinejad.  They argued if 
 
ISTANBUL 00000461  003 OF 004 
 
 
Mousavi had been elected and allowed to take office it would 
have been the worst outcome for the Green Movement.  They 
explained that Mousavi would have most likely been a team 
player, falling in line to support Khamenei's authority and 
"same old" politics, leaving the young activists of the Green 
Movement feeling as disappointed under a Mousavi Presidency 
as they had been under Khatami. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Instead, the election fraud and Khamenei's backing 
of Ahmadinejad have given the Green Movement a reason to 
exist.  "Mousavi isn't the leader anymore and it's not about 
elections now.  They stopped asking for their votes to be 
counted.  Now they're asking for bigger things like real 
freedom."  Khamenei's intervention to quash election 
challenges also spelled the end of what had previously been a 
genuine acceptance by the Iranian population of the Supreme 
Leader's neutrality and authority.  "Now most Iranians just 
see him as a selfish politician who only cares about staying 
in power." 
 
On the Road Again 
--------------- 
¶13.  (SBU) Following the group's U.S. concert tour next 
spring they plan to go to Europe to promote a film in which 
they played an Iranian rock band:  "No One Knows about 
Persian Cats" by Iranian film-maker Bahman Ghobadi, with a 
screen-play co-written by American-Iranian journalist Roxane 
Saberi (which she finished just before she was arrested by 
Iranian security services in January 2009). 
 
¶14.  (SBU) We asked if the band's popularity -- helped by a 
CNN interview in April 2009 and the Ghobadi film winning a 
Cannes Festival award in May 2009, and likely to get a boost 
from their forthcoming US concert tour -- might put them at 
greater risk when they return to Iran.  They assessed not, as 
long as they keep their music focused on social issues rather 
than using it to attack the regime.  They said that as long 
as they sing in English the regime will believe they are only 
singing to attract foreign audiences, and not singing to 
Iran's youth. 
 
How Do You Keep the Music Playing 
-------------------------- 
¶15.  (SBU) The band members said they never buy music or 
movies anymore, given the ease of free downloads.  Keeping 
internet connectivity is a constant challenge, however, and 
requires the use of proxy servers, virtual private networks, 
and filter-breaking software like "Freegate" -- which many 
Iranians visiting Turkey make a point of downloading while 
here rather than try to download such sensitive software from 
inside Iran.  "We are always trying to stay connected and 
almost always we can."  Wary of the regime's efforts to use 
technology to track its perceived enemies, however, the band 
members no longer use Facebook or other social networking 
sites, but still rely on Skype and carefully-worded text 
messages. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) The band members said they and everyone they know 
get news from two sources:  BBC's and VOA's Persian 
broadcasts.  But the regime is stepping up efforts to block 
satellite signals, they claimed, by installing massive 
microwave towers in several areas of Tehran and using 
microwave bursts to disrupt the signals.  Local authorities 
claim the towers are for cell-phone transmission, but the 
musicians told us anytime they go near the towers they feel 
"sudden shocks", nausea and dizziness, and said most Iranians 
(especially pregnant women and the elderly) have learned to 
stay away from the towers. 
 
Comment:  These Songs of Freedom 
-------------------- 
¶17. (SBU) These astute, well-informed, and resourceful 
20-something musicians offered up an insightful glimpse  -- 
which we find credible -- into a vibrant but mostly hidden 
sub-culture in Iran, reinforcing the impression that Iranian 
society spans a far broader and more complex spectrum than 
many outside observers realize.  We also find credible their 
description of the regime's treatment of their lifestyle and 
activities and their general conclusion that the regime is 
currently too overloaded trying to squash overt political 
protests and opposition to care about less-political, 
counter-culture "threats" like rock music.  Despite its 
radicalization, the regime appears still calculating and 
sensible enough not to pick domestic, social fights it 
doesn't have to, at least while it is engaged so desperately 
in fighting more immediate political threats.  In such an 
environment, the band is optimistic that the underground rock 
 
ISTANBUL 00000461  004 OF 004 
 
 
scene in Iran -- and the niche arena of free, creative 
expression it provides -- will keep growing.  End comment. 
WIENER