Tintin in Tehran

Iran is cool of course, so here's another post about that country.

Someone on the Danish music/hipster message board I occasionally roam, had stumbled on the "Tintin in Tehran" cover image while searching Google. What was this image about he wondered? Why was poor Snowy lying in a pool of blood? Being the self-appointed comics expert on the board, I set out to do some research.

I had seen the image before and had kind of wondered about the image myself. It didn't seem to paint a very nice picture of the Iranian capital. Was the image drawn by an Iranian? Or was it some kind of strange anti-Iranian propaganda.

It's not propaganda. A couple of searches in Google reveal that it was done by a young Iranian animator living in NYC, and it was done mainly to amuse his friends - read an interview here. So this is basically how a hip young Iranian living abroad would see Tehran, using self-deprecating irony about his own country. Flies and deadly traffic. Pretty amusing. Although it kinda makes me reconsider my idea of visiting Tehran as a tourist. Traffic tends to make me nervous. And a bit of research reveals that it IS a pretty serious problem :

"Last year nearly 28,000 people were killed in car crashes in Iran. Another 270,000 were injured. The statistics prompted a response this week from an alarmed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who normally reserves his pithier remarks for baiting the west."

Crazy! A fascinating country, but also somewhat deadly, apparently.

Kiosk: "Eshgh e Sorat" ("Need for Speed")

This video for a song by Iranian underground rock band Kiosk is very interesting. It's directed by Ahmad Kiarostami, son of world famous director Abbas Kiarostami. It features various scenes from the street life in Tehran.

The song is quite brilliant too, with interesting political lyrics about life in Iran.

Like most Iranian rock bands, Kiosk are not allowed to release their music officially in Iran. They DO have a web-site, though.

Rough translation of lyrics:

The power of love or love of power
Modernism versus tradition forever

Living in the evil axis
Speed freaks in jalopy taxis

Why feel any pain and suffer
When pills and powders' all on offer

Nothing for lunch or dinner to make
Then let them eat Yellow Cake

Multiple choice elections left to chance
Holy matrimony by loan and finance

Scraped up the very last dime
Sent it straight to Palestine

Guaranteed success or money back
Underground music or cultural attack

No need for cardiologists
Just facelifts by cosmetologists

Immoral zealots, fanatic factions
Chinese-style economic expansions

Religious democratic droppings
Pizza with Ghormeh Sabzi toppings

*

Barefoot children on the street
Chelo Kebab all you can eat

Smuggling women to Dubai
Our noble men turning a blind eye

Blood transfusion with an H.I.V flavor
Bird Flu virus or the new life saver

Cholera hits and one takes a bow
Another man dies from Mad Cow

Foreign currencies are reserved
Border movements all observed

Tried everything in our ability
Still no financial credibility

Oil dependant economy is hooked
Incentive vacations overbooked

Philosophical cinema in fusion
Cross-over musical confusion

Clandestine lovers and attractions
Chinese-style economic expansions

Religious democratic droppings
Pizza with Ghormeh Sabzi toppings

*

Meat stew served in posh cafes over artistic rants
Meditation classes just to get into each others pants

Break your fast, charity food served up
Zereshk Polo with ketchup

Life in virtual reality
Amusement park University

Our national soccer heroes
Can't kick their over-inflated egos

Counterfeit medication
Addiction as a recreation

A nation dressed up in fashion
Artificial industrial passion

Long distance system of education
Sell questions of entrance examination

Interest rates or finance charge
By choice or force but by and large

Immoral zealots, fanatic factions
Chinese-style economic expansions

Religious democratic droppings
Pizza with Ghormeh Sabzi toppings