Musician: I Want to Sell my Instruments and Emigrate

“Because of I have difficulty in making ends meet, I have to sell two of my instruments. They are professional instruments and, consequently, expensive. I have tried to not price them very high...”

This tweet was posted on July 22 by “Santur”, who asked others to retweet it so that he would succeed in selling his musical instruments [Persian link]. “Professional [musical] instruments cannot be easily sold.”

Santur lives in Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern province of Azerbaijan. He has been in love with music since he was a child and began learning to play the santur, the Iranian version of the dulcimer when he was six. “I play the santur,” says the introduction on his Twitter page. “I compose music, I teach music, I play setar, and I am an IT engineer.”

He uses the pseudonym “Santur” on Twitter and does not want his real name to be used here either. It is very difficult for a musician to let go of his favorite instruments; so why does he want to sell his professional instruments, I ask him? “My wife and I want to get a self-employment visa and emigrate to Canada,” he says, “but the costs of getting a lawyer and requesting a visa are very high and our income is very low.” These days, he adds with a sorrowful tone, “income from the arts is not enough [to make] a living.”

His spouse is a graphic artist. During the day Santur works for a computer firm, and in the evenings he teaches music until 11 pm. Nevertheless, their income, put together, is not enough for the simple life that they lead, and without the help of his retired father, they would be unable to make ends meet. “My wife’s salary is 600,000 tomans [US$136] per month,” he explains. “I receive 1.2 million tomans [US$272] from the firm and, in total, make around two million [US$453] with the money that I get for teaching music.”

He works in the technology department of the firm. “Income from music is not stable and depends on the number of students during the month,” he says. “So, even though my first love is music, I have to work for this company to make a living.”

The couple pays a monthly rent of 600,000 tomans, or US$136, for an 80 square meter, two-bedroom apartment in an average neighborhood in Ahvaz. “Fortunately, the rent has not gone up yet,” Santur says. “If it were not for the occasional help from my father, we could not manage at all because we have to pay a million [US$227] for rent and loans, and spend around 400,00 [US$90] on groceries. We are left with only 700,000 to 800,000 tomans [US$180+] to live on until the end of the month. I feel more terrified when I think about it.”

He is 28 and the difficulties — financial and otherwise — that musicians in Iran face have led him to think about immigration. “Because I cannot survive here as an artist and make a decent living, I got the idea to emigrate,” he says.

Why in a Church?

Many a time he has tried to continue working in music in his own town, and in his own country, but has failed. “I am [an ethnic] Bakhtiari Lor,” he says. “I wanted to work on Bakhtiari folk music and modernize it a little bit. I rewrote a few Bakhtiari songs in the form of a cappella [in the manner of ‘chapel singing’ in Italian, or choral singing performed without instruments].” Under the Islamic Republic, solo singing by women is banned but, at least theoretically, they can sing in a chorus. He explained that he had “expected to get a permit because it was choral singing, but it did not happen. All my energy, all my enthusiasm, and all my passion were destroyed. My wife has a good voice. I like to write her music to sing, but it is not possible. I like to perform concerts with my group, but when I think about the expenses and the steps that we have to take to get a permit, I give up. Besides, the Bureau of Islamic Culture and Guidance in the city is much more close-minded than the one in Tehran. Once we received an offer to perform a concert at a church, but the ministry’s security department would not stop asking us, ‘Why in a church?’”

He says that a self-employment visa from Canada can help them to emigrate. This visa, he says, “is for artists, writers, and sportspersons. If you can prove that you are an artist and have made your living by music for at least two years then you are eligible for this visa and you can go to Canada and live there.”

They have yet to be granted the visa but they have prepared and translated all necessary documents and have engaged a lawyer to do the job. “We contracted a lawyer for 10,000 Canadian dollars to be paid in four installments of 2.5 thousand dollars,” he says. “At the time the Canadian dollar was 3,3000 tomans, but now the price of the Canadian dollar has reached 7,2000 tomans. I do not know what to do because I cannot afford it even if my father helps.”

Maryam is an immigration lawyer in Canada and these days many people seek her services. “In the past year many Iranians took action to get various kinds of Canadian visas,” she tells IranWire. “But these days — with the currency fluctuations and the unprecedented rise in the price of the dollar — many more people call on us.” According to Maryam, every day many Iranians who have traveled to Canada on a tourist visa contact her office, looking for a way to change their visas to residency permits so they can stay in the country.

She says that nowadays, with the sanctions, the dim economic prospects and recent unrests, many Iranians who are residents of Canada consult her to find a way to bring in their family members from Iran. “It seems that all of them want to save their families from the bad situation in Iran,” says Maryam.

Our santur teacher is not very optimistic. “I am not very hopeful about getting the visa,” he says, “but I think it is better to try than to sit idle.”

More on the plight of musicians in Iran:

Only Married Women Allowed to Play Music, November 30, 2017

"Canceling Concerts Undermines the People’s Wishes", February 21, 2017

Mohammad Reza Shajarian: Iran’s Most Beloved Banned Singer, January 18, 2017

The Stage Is no Place for Iranian Women, December 21, 2016

"I've Been Banned for 14 Years", December 17, 2016

Punishment for Brothers on Hunger Strike, November 22, 2016

On Censorship, Cultural Destruction and the Power of Music, August 31, 2016

Metal, Mullahs and Muzzling: Why is Music a Crime in Iran?, February 2016

“Female Musicians Should Stick to Lullabies”, October 15, 2014