Bob Belden and Animation Become First American Musicians to Play in Iran Since 1979

In times of political uncertainty, it seems as if music, once again, is bridging the cultural divide. New Yorker Bob Belden and his band, Animation, became the first American musicians to perform in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

Belden is Grammy Award-winning producer, composer and jazz performer who performed renditions of jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in Tehran last Friday in front of a rambunctious audience of admirers. Belden also performed some of his own original compositions. Officials from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance also attended the show, enjoying it and themselves while the rest 1,200-seat-theatre cheered on the American performer.

Belden had traveled briefly throughout Iran with his group, Animations, on a four-day tour though relations between the two countries have been less than amicable.

“This guy comes up to me, an Iranian; asks me where I’m from. I say, ‘America!’ He says, ‘I love you!’ ” Mr. Belden said to the New York Times before Friday’s concert. “I tell him I’m a jazz musician. He says, ‘I love jazz!’ Everybody is nice to us here,” he said.

Animation is made up of Belden, trumpeter Pete Clagget, keyboardist Roberto Verastegui, drummer Matt Young and bassist Jair-Rohm Parker Wells. The group was selected to close the annual Farj music festival that commemorates the anniversary of the Islamic revolution. That programming decision was part of a delicate charm offensive organized by cultural officials in the government of President Hassan Rouhani. The invitation hopes to be a step in mending a failing relationship between the two countries.

Mehdi Faridzadeh, a former cultural ambassador from Iran who now resides in the United States, and Search for Common Ground, an American nonprofit organization that aims to promote ties between the two countries, helped arrange Belden and his band’s trip to Iran.

The concert was being recorded for an upcoming live album.