Last Updated: 12/20/2007 11:06:58 AM
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Chris de Burgh to perform in Iran

Chris de Burgh

Irish singer Chris de Burgh, famed for his hit "The Lady in Red", is to give concerts in Iran next summer as part of a collaboration with an Iranian rock group, their manager said on Sunday.
De Burgh will perform concerts with the Iranian band Arian, a founder of modern Iranian pop and the first rock group in the Islamic republic to receive an official permit to perform.
Should the concerts go ahead, his appearance would be the first performance by a major Western pop star in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution which frowned upon rock music as decadent.
"According to the schedule, Chris de Burgh will come to Iran before the Iranian new year (March 2008) to visit historical sites and cities," said Arian's manager Mohsen Rajabpour, quoted by the Fars news agency.
"Then the artist will come to Iran for a concert in the months of Tir and Mordad (from June to late August) to perform along with Arian in the open air," he said.
Rajabpour said de Burgh would peform solo tracks as well as singing with the band. He added that plans were also afoot for a joint tour of the band and de Burgh abroad.
Chris de Burgh's official website did not confirm the tour of Iran. But it did say the singer had recently completed recording with the band on a song entitled "The Words I Love You" in English and Persian for their new album.
"This is an exciting project as it is the first collaboration between Western and Iranian artists," it said.
The authorities' opposition to pop music has softened over the past years and several Iranian pop bands now have a permit to perform from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Arian gave its first public concert in 1999.
Lyrics address problems of love but steer carefully clear of anything deemed inappropriate. Touching unrelated members of the opposite sex, let alone dancing with them, is heavily frowned upon in Iran.
Arian was also the first Iranian band to include female members, who play instruments and provide backing vocals but do not sing solos.
But bands are also strictly vetted for adherence to Islamic morals and there is also a considerable underground scene of bands who do not have the all-important official permit.
The police have raided parties where underground groups perform, complaining that the events are decadent and harm public morality.

Source: AFP