“I think the Iranian youth can make the best use of their thoughts because they have the ability of bricolage,” Mashayekhi told the Tehran Times in an interview on Sunday.
“I ask the Iranian youth to get up in the morning, do not talk for half an hour then listen to music for the next half an hour, and find solutions for these difficult days of coronavirus,” he added.
He said that he believes in these trying days people should try not to turn into a tool for coronavirus, but that the new virus should be turned into a tool for them.
“What I mean is this: I know that when I stand in front of a boiling kettle I automatically do not touch it because I know my hand will be burned, or when I see the weather is cold I put on my coat. This happens automatically and I don’t think about it, and I am not living with the stress of catching a cold or getting burned. This should also happen about the new virus,” the musician said.
“I know the situation is new and we don’t have experience with it, but I also think we can manage over 70 percent of it, and we know that prevention is better than cure, so this way our minds will have more space to think,” he noted.
Mashayekhi is suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) and needs to go to the hospital if necessary, but he cannot due to the coronavirus pandemic in the city. However, he said that his life has its own principles and he has been able to have a routine life despite the difficulties.
“It is because the very first time I get up in the morning I do not talk for half an hour with any individual, I just sit down and think, then I only listen to music for the next half an hour. This one hour makes my whole day: all the problems are solved within the first half-hour, and the second half gives me a new perspective on life. This is what music can do,” he explained.
He next mentioned that music has the potential to help us look at life in a different way and experience a new perspective on life.
“The important thing about music is that we must first think so as to see what the reason is that we need music in our lives. Do we like music for entertainment, do we like it for fun or do we want to find a new perspective on life,” he said.
He suggested that people who are looking for a way to transfer their thoughts and feelings should remember that the virtual world has many facilities and they can make the best use of it.
“I think online concerts are good and entertain people but this is not the main thing,” he added.
Musicians have cultural responsibilities because they can make the best use of this cultural tool to help relieve stress and heal the pain, giving messages of hope and good feelings.
“The main thing is that we should know that life means overcoming problems, and if people think that life is easy and sweet, they are making a mistake. Life means fighting with problems and then it gets sweet. We Iranians are perfect in getting involved in a life and solving the problems in our lives, and I think we always can find solutions for our problems,” he concluded.
First Published in Tehran Times
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