Concerts scheduled in Tehran for acclaimed Japanese musician and composer Masanori Takahashi, better known by his nickname Kitaro, have been cancelled.
Kitaro, 65, was initially supposed to perform for three nights at the Ministry of Interior Auditorium from May 6-8. But due to delays in issuing visas for his six American band members, the performance was postponed to May 12, 13 and 17, Mehr News Agency reported on its Persian website.
However, due to shortage of time for organizing the event, and also the band members’ concerns about possible problems when they return to the US, organizers decided to cancel the event.
According to Ali Torabi, director general of Culture Ministry’s Music Office, Kitaro’s concert had all the required permits. “But after the permits were issued, the band and its organizers decided to postpone the concert for another time due to the delay in the visas and the little time left for selling the tickets,” Torabi said.
Kitaro’s manager, instrumentalists and technicians are based in the US. Their visas were issued on May 1 which was too late for organizers to book a flight from the US to some destination near Iran (there are no direct flights between Iran and the US for almost four decades) and make arrangements for the initial concert date on May 6.
So the tickets already sold were all transferred to later dates at the same venue with the same seating positions. But in the meantime, as US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Kitaro’s band grew more anxious about their trip to Iran.
In an interview with the news website Musicema late April, music producer and manager Ali Cheragh-Ali had referred to such concerns. “Since the instrumentalists and orchestra of Kitaro are US citizens, their performance in Iran may cause them some trouble. This is what they were told by their lawyers … This is why the list of players was renewed twice. We hope to be able to resolve the problem.”
Whether Trump’s decision to walk away from the international deal is the reason for cancelling Kitaro’s concert is not certain and Cheragh-Ali was reluctant to share details.
“I have no idea if the band’s decision was influenced by Trump’s move. But I should mention that the Music Office of the ministry has no problem with Kitaro’s concert, and we did what we could for it,” Torabi, the Culture Ministry, official said.
