The Plastic Wave is banned from playing in its native Tehran, but the group's songs were performed by musicians in Brooklyn last night as part of the Impossible Music Sessions, a tribute bands who cannot appear live.
At Brooklyn's Littlefield Performance Venue, the lead singer of the group interpreting the Iran-based band's music said the two bands exchanged e-mails and talked via Skype to figure out how to faithfully reproduce The Plastic Wave's music for audiences in New York.
“I felt it was a very smooth process,” said Cruel Black Dove singer Anastasia Dimou. “It felt very easy when I was listening to their songs to envision us doing it.”
The underground electronic rock band has been banned from playing music because their lead singer is female and the group uses English lyrics. In 2008, two of the band's members were thrown in jail for participating in an unauthorized outdoor concert and performing in front of a mixed gender audience, according to their peers.
The event, The Impossible Music Sessions, are a way for artists who cannot appear live to have their music heard, according to Austin Dacey, mastermind of the event.
Lead singer of Hypernova, Rahm Emami, said he left Iran with the help of people he knew in the U.S. and hopes that members of The Plastic Wave will join him soon.
“Basically, if your music makes people dance … it's a big no-no," he said.
