Iranian Poobahs Pooh-Pooh Western Pop; Beethoven, Brahms, Bach Also Banned
Lee Harris at TCS Daily on the latest inane gesture from the president of Iran:
Ahmadinejad isn't just banning Eminem, Fifty Cent, and Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, which might be reasonable; nor banning the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Weber, which would be positively commendable. No, Ahmadinejad is banning Bach's St. Matthew Passion (obviously); Wagner's Tristan and Isolde; the wonderful songs of Harold Arlen, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Jerome Kern. Also forbidden are Handel's endlessly diverting Concerti Grossi, Opus 6, Gabriel Faure's chamber music, Eric Clapton's guitar, and Anton Bruckner's vast cathedrals of sound….
Let The Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council do its worst; it can never hope to erase either Beethoven's sublime melody or the poetry of humanitarianism with which it will forever be associated. As long as men can hum to themselves, it will continue to stir men's souls and to elevate them above all the pettiness that divides us. It will remain long after Ahmadinejad has become merely a footnote in the history of our dark and troubled times.
Whole thing here. I could do without the Beethovenolatry (indeed, I can't be the only one who thinks a heavy radio rotation of Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' "Don't Pull Your Love [Out]" would flip the Islamic government in a long weekend), but the point holds.
We looked at the subversive power of music in the Middle East here. And here are some related articles. We checked out official Iranian rock 'n' roll here and told Iran to "Go Fuck Yourself with Your Atom Bomb Pop Songs" here.