Iranian city bans music events after Imam blames them for drought

All music events in southwest Iran have been cancelled after they were blamed for causing drought in the region.

The city of Abadan has been slammed for granting concert permits, with religious authorities calling them ‘sinful’.

One cleric went as far as blaming the music events for the ongoing drought in the region – leading to the department cancelling several concert permits for February this year.

During the 1979 Revolution, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini banned ‘all popular music’, citing corruption in children’s minds.

The extreme censorship of music in Iran created a black market where Western music was smuggled in through various routes.

In recent years, some music events have been allowed in the country, but under strict supervision.

To this day, all music must be approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Most album covers are edited if they don’t match standards set by the regime.

Lady Gaga was erased from ‘Joanne’, Lana Del Ray was edited out of her album cover for ‘Norman F****** Rockwell’, Taylor Swift was removed from her ‘Lover’ album, and Beyonce was taken off of her cover for ‘Homecoming’.

Anyone caught with music deemed ‘un-Islamic’ was fined, lashed or even imprisoned for causing ‘corruption on earth’ –though these punishments are not enforced nearly as much as they once were.

Other countries are also incredibly strict with music – including in Russia, where the 2010 Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development law banned sharing messages and images about suicide, drug use and other sensitive matters among children in Russia. 

This was followed by law 135, known as the ‘gay propaganda ban’, which bans promoting ‘denying traditional family values and non-traditional sexual relations’ to children.

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