Before the 1979 Iranian revolution the oil rich city of Abadan where the main refinery plant pumped oil and money, an affluent class of Iranians spanned their wings and lived a stylish life style. First by the influence of the British then by a community of middle class professionals the local culture had changed. Kids with western cloth Rayban sunglasses would carry towels and swimming gear and be off to the nearest oil company club.
Perhaps extinct today, he is an unsung hero. He was the man who would cheer the place up, get a Bandari drum beat out of plank of wood. Make his own flute out of a bamboo shoot.
Abadan is a city in the South of Iran. There was a joyful layback culture about the place. Abadan had been under British influence for many years, it is where the main oil refinery was the one that produced the oil for the British navy during the second world war and powered the Empire’s economy.
When the British left, Iranian Oil workers took over and adopted a comfortable Western life style of Clubs, Swimming pools and leisure.
There was a pool of talent in that city. The local music which has a catchy drum base has its root in the music of Sailors who traveled there from the rest of the world, from places like Middle East, Africa, Portugal and it is still one of the most popular forms of music.
The stereotype of an Abadani is someone who would not be seen dead without his Ray Band Sun glasses. He also had a tendency to exaggerate his successes, which is why I doodled this cartoon as homage to that fun-loving unsung hero giving him a monument and why the caption reads Thanks for saving the Universe!
May he rest in peace!
