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A group of artists and musicians has written to the Governor of Khorasan Razavi, calling on him to cancel the ban placed on all music concerts in Mashhad, the provincial capital.
Qods online reports that the signatories maintain that such a ban will lead to the "separation and alienation of the young generation from their local artistic and cultural values."
For years, an unwritten rule has restricted concerts in Mashhad on the grounds that it is a religious city holding the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam.
The letter indicates that Mashhad was the site of top-quality live music in various venues across the city in the not-so-distant past and the ban gradually imposed on concerts is a mere "imposition of personal views and mismanagement by former cultural officials".
Earlier this week Chenaran Prosecutor's office announced that it had received a directive banning all music concerts in Khorasan Razavi Province. That statement was contradicted by the head of the culture ministry in the province who said there had been no such directive.
The letter to the Khorasan Governor refers to the growing level of "violence, tension and depression" in Mashhad as cause for concerns adding that music can be a highly effective tool in improving the mood of the city providing it with "peace, joy and exhilaration".
The signatories call on the governor to end the "Silence of Music" in Mashhad with the removal of the concert ban on the city.
