With the arrival of radio in the 1930 and in the aftermath of World War II in 1945, pop music in Iran fully grew, matured and developed. However, one can link its origins to the Qajar dynasty in the 19th century. A variety of musical styles such as rumba, tango and waltz became prevalent in Iran some 40 years ago. This music compared to its traditional predecessors was quite modern. In the beginning, it was imitated and copied in Iran but after a while it formed its own identity. The onset of modern pop music in Iran was with the emergence of stars such as Vigen, Aref, etc. The music itself was the copy of the western music with only the lyrics translated into Farsi. The introduction of pop music into radio was largely owed to an Iranian-Armenian musician named Soren. The first studio in Iran was called Tanin, which was extremely influential and successful. A lot of music was recorded in the Tanin studio during those years.Varoojan who ran Tanin was a trendsetter and many people followed in his footsteps. He was very hardworking, determined and successful. The music that came out of Tanin studio had a fresh and innovative sound and was known as the fifties music. The 50s was a good decade but Iranian pop music had not reached its peak. The government had just given the go ahead and consented to different lyrics and new subjects to be included in songs and topics about social and cultural realities to sneak into popular music (Source: IranChamber).
Philosophical Musings of Music in Persia in Early Islamic Era
