Queen album brings rock to Iran
Rock band Queen, fronted by gay icon Freddie Mercury, has become the first rock act to receive an official seal of approval in Iran.
Western music is strictly censored in the Islamic republic, where homosexuality is considered a crime.
But an album of Queen’s greatest hits was released in Iran on Monday.
Mercury, who died in 1991, was proud of his Iranian ancestry, and illegal bootleg albums and singles made Queen one of the most popular bands in Iran.
Lyrics explained
The album contains hits such as Bohemian Rhapsody, The Miracle and I Want to Break Free, but reportedly omits a number of Queen’s love songs.
The cassette, costing less than $1 (55 pence), comes complete with translated lyrics and an explanatory leaflet.
It tells Queen fans that Bohemian Rhapsody is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil.
On the night before his execution he calls God in Arabic, “Bismillah”, and so regains his soul from Satan.
Akbar Safari, a salesman at a Tehran book and record store, said the album was already selling very well.
“It is the first rock album to hit the market legally and people are surprised and pleased to see it has the lyrics, not just the music,” he said.
Other western acts to have had albums of selected songs released on the official Iranian market include Elton John, Julio Iglesias and The Gypsy Kings.
Books containing original and translated lyrics by many western singers have also been published in Iran, in response to the demands of a nation where 70% of the population is aged under 30.
The books contain lyrics by artists such as Leonard Cohen, Celine Dion and controversial rapper Eminem.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/3593532.stm
Published: 2004/08/24 10:33:55 GMT
© BBC MMIV
Guess it doesn’t have Fat Bottomed Girls on it, then…:rolleyes: That’ll teach ’em!
Flood
By: Flood - 25th August 2004 at 23:35
So in a way, an Ethnic Iranian being accepted in Iran is not funny. Unless of course, I have missed the point.
:rolleyes: Once upon a time there were prog rock groups, but then along came punk and the bloated long singles died away. But most of the groups continued in one form or another and became big for being either stadium fillers or for their fans devotion.
Queen went from being prog rock dinosaurs to heavy pop to opera.
‘Freddy Mercury’ did extravagent things, took exotic drugs, practised sexual excesses whenever possible – sometimes all three together. I am sure that his former potential countrymen would have been proud. I am sure that had he been ‘back home’ then he would have been treated with prejudice by the governmental and religious authorities – as he would have after the revolution, if not more so.
But then, having decided that they could utilise this depraved western music they still decide to censor further by not taking all the goodies on offer.
Wanna bet that Crazy Little Thing Called Love also isn’t on there?
Flood
By: Manu - 25th August 2004 at 22:59
“Freddy Mercury” is not the man’s real name.
He was born Faroukh Bulsara in Mumbai (then Bombay), India. he is a Zoroastrian (In India, known as “Parsis”). Originally, All Iranians were Zoroastrians till Islamic Arab Invasions .
http://www.parsijourney.com/chapters/four/chfour.html
So in a way, an Ethnic Iranian being accepted in Iran is not funny. Unless of course, I have missed the point.
– Manu.
By: Snapper - 25th August 2004 at 21:35
Stone me.
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August 24, 2004 at 11:03 pm