Isolated Musicians Perform From Rooftops In Iran

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

On the rooftop terrace of her Tehran apartment building, 28-year-old Mojgan Hosseini’s fingers pluck the strings of her qanun, an ancient stringed instrument, bringing life to an Iranian capital stilled by the coronavirus.

h/t: AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

With performance halls closed and many isolated in their homes as a result of the Mideast’s worst virus outbreak, Hosseini and other Iranian musicians now find performance spaces where they can. That includes rooftops dotted with water tanks and littered with debris, empty front porches and opened apartment windows. Their music floats down on others stuck in their homes, fearful of the COVID-19 illness the virus brings.

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Their impromptu concerts draw applause and offer hope to their listeners, even as public performances still draw hard-line scrutiny in the Islamic Republic.

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP