Last week I went a massive, chaotic, and wonderful concert by Googoosh, the biggest Iranian singing/acting diva. She's a smoking hot 57-year-old with an enormous voice and a decades-long discography.
I went expecting to have a good time because I like her music (and damn can she belt it out live), but I did not expect the added benefit of cultural observation, getting immersed in a 4-5,000-strong crowd of excited Iranians. Definitely the most Iranians I've ever been around. And I was definitely the only non-bleached blonde in the arena.
I was with Mahboyfriend and my Iranian friend, Sara, who promised me as we walked in that, in a crowd that size, we would get to see "the best and worst" of Iran.
My observations:
(1) Shimmery metallic shirts and rhinestone-studded clothing are a passion, perhaps even a wardrobe necessity. For men and women.
(2) Iranians do not like to stand in a queue. Rather like Indians, they tend to move like a river, flooding all available space around a gateway / ticket counter / etc., piling partly on top of one another, and then spilling out backwards. It was immensely chaotic.
(3) There is a striking diversity of complexion and facial features.
(4) The middle-aged women in headscarves tend to be rectangular in shape.
Here's a clip from the concert. I hope the sound quality is good enough to hear the grown men wailing along with her:
Friday, April 04, 2008
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