Singing in Silence: Negotiating Space, Power, and Voice in Iran

Since the 1979 Revolution, women in Iran have been barred from singing solo before mixed-gender audiences. Yet they continue to perform in singing lessons, female-only or underground concerts, recording studios, informal gatherings, and online platforms.

This presentation examines how women navigate these spaces, drawing on fieldwork in Tehran, remote interviews, and my own experience — beginning my career as a professional singer in Iran in the 1990s and continuing abroad. The study highlights the resilience and creativity of female singers as they carve out spaces despite enduring restrictions on all fronts.

Biography

Sepideh Raissadat features prominently in the new generation of classical Persian vocalists. She began studying Persian music at age 10 with the famous Iranian Diva Parissa and, later, with renowned masters Parviz Meshkatian and Mohammad-Reza Lotfi. With five critically acclaimed albums to her credit, Sepideh began her recording career at age 19 with the album (Konj-e Saburi, 2000), composed by Parviz Meshkatian. She later garnered invitations from prestigious institutions like UNESCO and the Vatican, and from the international media, such as the BBC, RAI and France 24.

In addition to her regular collaborations with Iranian musicians, Sepideh has worked as soloists with such prominent musicians and ensembles as Franco Battiato, Andrea Parodi, Ensemble Maraghi, Nexus Percussion, Orchestre Metropolitain, Constantinople and Grammy Award-winning Roomful of Teeth.

A PhD candidate at the University of Toronto and a recipient of Canada’s Joseph-Armand Bombardier Award for Doctoral Scholarship, Sepideh has appeared as a guest speaker and artist-in-residence at various universities including Yale University, the University of Washington, the University of Cologne and the University of Bologna.