MATT BROWN: It's a world of hope and passion, a side to Iran you've probably never seen before. In the art houses of the capital, an exciting, new era is dawning.

REZA KOOLAGHANI, SINGER [subtitled]: Deep down you just want to do what you love.

MATT BROWN: Reza Koolaghani is part of a new wave of artists finding their feet and finding a voice.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [subtitled]: Sometimes I'm happy when I write music, but sometimes I'm really sad. That's the thing about being creative - you need to be full of emotion.

MATT BROWN: For Reza's whole life, Iran has been dominated by Islamic clerics who've stifled art and culture. But little by little the people have been pushing back.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [subtitled]: It's a bit before my time, but I've been told you could be arrested just for carrying a musical instrument.

MATT BROWN: For more than a decade, the world's attention has been focused on Iran's controversial nuclear program. But now a pragmatic President has agreed to rein it in, and inside Iran an intriguing transformation is underway.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [subtitled]: There's been an artistic blossoming here, especially over the last year. It means things have become more relaxed and people can come and see how we live and see that we're humans.

MATT BROWN: This is a young country; at least two thirds of the population is under 40. They're relishing a new-found freedom. The pace of change is building. But how far can Iran's youth push it? And just how far will they be allowed to go?

REZA KOOLAGHANI [singing, subtitled]: Give me a better life. Or a dignified death... [applause]

MATT BROWN: Reza's producer is Ehsan Rasoulof, the son of a wealthy banker.

MATT BROWN: It seems a vibrant time, such a beautiful blossoming time?

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: Yeah, I think maybe ten years from now when we look back we'll have found this is very, very golden, and we will really miss these days, I think.

MATT BROWN: The golden years?

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: Yeah. It's the golden years of Iranian new history, I think.

MATT BROWN: Ehsan believes that in Reza, he's found a real diamond in the rough.

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: Instead of us being like producer and musician, we're like two brothers, like members of a big family.

MATT BROWN: Ehsan's gallery is regarded as one of Tehran's most prominent art spaces. It's a hub of creativity. At tonight's reception the city's young, bold and beautiful are out in force. But you don't have to be a seasoned culture vulture to notice that here, they drink coffee, not champagne. While they're pushed back as far as practical, the ubiquitous headscarves are de rigueur. So too is the long jacket or manteau - women can't be seen in public without them.

MATT BROWN: Up on the roof, a new installation is wowing the crowd.

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: I think it's about boundaries and about the complexity of the experience they have as a young generation now.

MATT BROWN: It's a pretty complex life, by the look of it here.

EHSAN RASOULOF: Yeah, yeah, and also very colourful, I think.

MATT BROWN: There's such an artistic explosion here; it's become a very lucrative market.

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: In the last auction, I think we sold more than five or six million dollars worth of art.

MATT BROWN: Wow!

MATT BROWN: It's hard to imagine how the clerics in charge ever hoped to keep these people down.

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: There have been some political changes here thanks to a new generation of young people voting in both the recent presidential and parliamentary elections. The authorities accepted the results and it's meant a serious change in the political atmosphere. Personally it's made me very happy and hopeful.

MATT BROWN: The hope of today had its beginnings in tragedy. In the basement, Ehsan tells me he built this extraordinary space in honour of his brother, a budding photographer - after he was killed in a plane crash.

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: My brother's death was a huge emotional shock which really affected me. It brought it home to me that nothing lasts forever. When you realise time is limited and you can lose the whole thing in a split second, you have to act now.

MATT BROWN: Since then Ehsan's been on a mission to foster young talent, using his privilege to give them a launch pad into the expanding art scene. As well as producing music and art, across town he runs a bookshop and caf yet another outlet for Iran's youthful creativity.

EHSAN RASOULOF: Before the revolution we had a culture of hanging out in cafes. There were many intellectual people, and many... many famous writers, poets, who went to cafes to share their ideas.

MATT BROWN: A very French kind of idea?

EHSAN RASOULOF: Yes, very French, like Sartre.

MATT BROWN: Over the last few years that cafculture has been re-emerging. It offers Iranians a relatively free space to meet, talk and exchange ideas.

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: It's my strongest motivator, the times when this space is filled with young people full of energy, talking about culture and art and hanging out with one another.

MATT BROWN: At a more downbeat coffee shop in the backstreets of Tehran, Reza hones words and music with his poet mates.

MATT BROWN: He came to Tehran from a seaside town on the Persian Gulf - Bandar-Abbas, renowned for its musicians. But making it big in the capital isn't easy and the future was looking bleak.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [subtitled]: About four or five years ago when I came here from Bandar I was living with friends, moving from one house to another every month or so, with no income, no money at all... nothing at all.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [singing, subtitled]: The fact that the situation, is completely unpredictable. The wind that sometimes blows, around the island. These soils that are red, these waters that are blue.

MATT BROWN: For musicians who want make a living, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance holds the key. It plays the role of censor and cultural enforcer. Without the ministry's permission you can't perform or release CDs. But with Ehsan's help and patronage, Reza was able to get their approval.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [subtitled]: Before things opened up, music in Iran was played underground. I was an underground artist. But now all the underground bands are getting permission to perform. I'm really happy with my choice. As far as I'm concerned it was the best thing to do.

MATT BROWN: Everyone here knows there are still limits. Musicians and artists in Iran are still being thrown in gaol for breaking the rules, and Reza's careful to avoid mixing music and politics.

REZA KOOLAGHANI [subtitled]: According to Iranian law you can't sing songs with stupid lyrics, and you're not allowed to sing political songs. Play by the rules and you can do what you want.

MATT BROWN: It's a difficult path that Ehsan's helping musicians to navigate. Tonight he's taking me to a rehearsal with one of his most promising prospects.

MATT BROWN: Bomrani is developing a sort of Iranian gypsy punk.

MANI MOZAKKA [BOMRANI MUSICIAN, subtitled]: I stole the sun, I stole the sun.

Only for you, I put it in my pocket.

I'll place it on your hair, tomorrow I'll place it on your hair.

I stole the sun, tomorrow I'm placing it on your hair.

When tomorrow comes, it will be our day.

When sunlight appears, it will be the day for us.

Tonight is too long.

How long tonight is.

I wish the sun were here.

MATT BROWN: The band's music and lyrics have a raucous sense of the absurd.

AFRO [BOMRANI MUSICIAN subtitled]: It's about a guy who stole the sun for his lover, but and now he's nagging about why the morning never came, and-

MATT BROWN: Where's the sun?

AFRO: He doesn't see the point!

MATT BROWN: Dude, you gave it to your girlfriend!

AFRO: Yeah!

MATT BROWN: There's nothing obviously controversial here, but it's the kind of thing that censors in years gone by would have found hard to stomach.

MANI MOZAKKA [BOMRANI MUSICIAN subtitled]:

Laugh at me honey, it will make you happy.

Laugh at me honey, get rid of your sorrow.

MATT BROWN: Bomrani used to be an underground band, which meant they couldn't perform in public. Instead they held secret impromptu gigs.

MANI MOZAKKA [BOMRANI MUSICIAN subtitled]: Usually if a band is underground it's because they don't have permission from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance to perform music - not because they follow a particular political ideology which is what underground might mean somewhere else.

MATT BROWN: But as the authorities relaxed their controls, Bomrani spread their wings, played more gigs, and eventually signed up with Ehsan, who helped them get official permission to perform, release a CD and hopefully find commercial success.

MATT BROWN: So are these guys your superstars?

EHSAN RASOULOF: Yeah! You know, I love them. You know, they are really like some kind of family.

MATT BROWN: And you're the godfather!

EHSAN RASOULOF: No!

BOMRANI MUSICIAN, subtitled: First of all, financially it's very important - and also because we want to reach more people who would like our music. So there are lots of good reasons not to be underground and to get permission to perform.

MATT BROWN: The Bomrani boys are hard at work on material for their new album. If it's successful, there'll be more domestic performances across Iran and possibly even a chance to tour abroad later this year.

MANI MOZAKKA [BOMRANI MUSICIAN subtitled]:

I have a beloved, in appearance very natty.

However, in using ugly words, she's like a bear with a sore head.

The hump of my hand is fed up because of her.

And I am so mad at her.

So I make a cawing sound from my chamber, like a crow.

La, la la la..

MATT BROWN: Like Reza though, they know there are limits to their freedom.

BOMRANI MUSICIAN, subtitled: As far as I'm concerned if you have to get official permission to upload the music you've produced and that you like, and distribute it or make it into an album, then you're not free.

MANI MOZAKKA [BOMRANI MUSICIAN subtitled]:

Her sharp nails like the claw of a bird,

I croak like a frog because of her company.

Gurl Gurl Gurl Gurl.....!

EHSAN RASOULOF [subtitled]: I'd say the greatest limitation we face is that we're not allowed to openly criticise the political situation.

MATT BROWN: Despite the recent thaw in relations with the United States, a potent symbol of the historical enmity that's existed between the two countries can be found right in the middle of Tehran. It's the old US Embassy, now a well preserved museum, with entry by appointment only. When Religious hardliners seized control of Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979, radicals captured the embassy and held 52 US diplomats and embassy employees hostage for more than a year.

MATT BROWN: This place was dubbed "The Nest of Spies" and from it the clerics fashioned a really powerful symbol of a toxic American culture. But they didn't just ban rock and roll, they set about censoring all manner of things deemed un-Islamic. And yet in the decades since then, try as they might, they've been unable to maintain that grip on all of the Iranian people.

THOMAS ERDBRINK, TEHRAN BUREAU CHIEF, NEW YORK TIMES: People have gone through a revolution, that's a huge scar on any society.

MATT BROWN: Thomas Erdbrink is one of the few western journalists allowed to be based in Iran. He's here lived since 2002.

THOMAS ERDBRINK: If you look at the Iran of 15 years.... 14 years ago when I came, it's a completely different country compared to the Iran of now. I'm wearing jeans... I'm wearing a jeans shirt. At the time people would not... we're talking about 14 years ago, people would not wear jeans in this country or only maybe in private parties or other things. I had a backpack. People would point to me in the streets, because they just, they thought it was funny, a backpack. These kids now are more hip, you know, than I will ever be! No matter how hard I try. So what I'm trying to say is that society has undergone tremendous change in these 14 years. And then this change, it has been allowed from the top onwards.

MATT BROWN: In 2009 he witnessed millions of moderates taking to the streets to protest against the re-election of the hard line President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The response was brutal. But it put the hardliners on notice. Now a loose coalition of pragmatists and reformers, led by the new President Hassan Rouhani have won power, and it's they who've been gradually loosening the reins.

THOMAS ERDBRINK: Will they allow Iran to become, you know, the next Paris of the Middle East? No, that's a step too far. Will they allow a certain amount of change? Yes. Of course the nuclear agreement, which comes after eight years of pressures and sanctions and having the feeling that there's no light at the end of the tunnel, of course that nuclear agreement gives a lot of hope to people. The fact that foreign companies are coming back, the fact that your country is no longer mentioned in the news in the first or the second or the third item, that is something very positive to people.

MATT BROWN: Regardless of who's in power, those who defy the system can get brutal treatment. More than 800 Iranians are currently behind bars for their political or religious beliefs, their human rights work, or journalism.

MATT BROWN: When a group called 25 Band filmed this video in north east Iran, they broke all the rules. Not only was the lead singer a woman, she didn't follow the strict dress code either. The director of photography, Ahmad Saneghe, was arrested at the airport as he tried to flee. He was sentenced to two years in prison but got out after four months and fled to Turkey. I've had to travel to Istanbul to find out what happened to him.

AHMAD SANEGHE, VIDEO PHOTOGRAPHER [subtitled]: It's really difficult to express how awful it was to be in prison. The very painful times I experienced in prison - like the feeling of being held captive when you don't know why.

MATT BROWN: The time in prison was enough to leave its mark, and the back stage buzz just doesn't grab him the way it used to.

AHMAD SANEGHE [subtitled]: I definitely want to go back to Iran. My family is there, it's my home, my friends are there. It's absolutely the best place in the world for me to be. But when I can't work, when I can't live, then I can't go back.

MATT BROWN: Lead singer, Tamin, managed to escape before the authorities caught up with her.

[TAMIN SINGS ON STAGE]

TAMIN, SINGER [subtitled]: I am happy that I am who I am. I am able to be myself, there's no need to be someone else. I am myself. I wear what I like, I sing what I like. I do whatever I like on stage. I show myself to people and many people see me.

MATT BROWN: Before she left Iran, Tamin did try to fit in, singing to women-only audiences, staying underground - but it was never enough.

TAMIN [subtitled]: Iran is divided in two - there's the private part inside the home or the underground where people really live their lives. And that's true for most people, they're free to be themselves. But on the street you're forced to be like this. In my music video I want my art to represent my life at home with friends and relatives. And wearing a bridal dress with a headscarf? No way.

TAMIN [singing, subtitled]: My heart is so restless.

You have no idea how much I miss you.

You don't know how restless I am.

I console myself thinking

I will dream of you tonight.

MATT BROWN: Tamin's fans, are a real source of strength. Some even fly out from Tehran to catch these performances.

TAMIN [subtitled]: The fact that they travel from Iran to support us, to show us they love us, it means so much to me. And I'm happy to put up with even more because of them. It makes it all worthwhile.

MATT BROWN: For all the onstage exuberance, though, she too longs to go home.

TAMIN [subtitled]: We were forced to leave our country and exile ourselves so we could work. We left in so much pain and sorrow, and we were crying. Now we try to follow all the news back home in Iran. We watch movies all the time even though they make us cry. We're still devastated, it's just part of it.

MATT BROWN: For Tamin, the recent relaxation of the rules just isn't enough. Just being a woman and wanting to be yourself is still out of bounds. Iran won't let half of its population find a voice on stage.

TAMIN [singing, subtitled]: With my tearful eyes which of my sorrows do you want me to tell you about?

I am the person whose voice is illegal.

I'm calling from far away.

Listen.

The voice that is imprisoned at home.

I am the mother of tomorrow's generation.

You shouldn't let me be locked away.

TAMIN [subtitled]: Of course I'd love to go back, but the rules that apply to women in Iran mean that I wouldn't be free to do what I want to do. The Islamic Republic means the hijab - it means women aren't free, they don't count. No matter what government or president wins or loses power, I don't think that will change - not without a miracle.

MATT BROWN: And make no mistake, back in Tehran there are plenty of young people praying for a miracle. They continue to perform and create underground, despite the very real threat of prison.

MATT BROWN: There's so much censorship and real fear here that people who want to get together and play covers of western rock & roll have to do it in secret. But tonight we've been invited to a private little gig by some very talented and brave young people.

MATT BROWN: This young garage band is rehearsing for an underground gig to be held here at the weekend. It's taken us all afternoon just to persuade them to let us film this way. And fair enough - the police interrupted a performance the week before, asking suspiciously about the noise, but a friend managed to keep them at bay. And at any stage they fear there could be another knock on the door, black marks on their files, even arrests.

MATT BROWN: There's just so much enthusiasm and talent in this room. It's a shame you can't see it all. But these people do want to be seen, the youth of Iran want to be heard; they want to have a voice.

MATT BROWN: Iran has a rich history of poetry, art and music. Hardliners in the old clerical elite may hark back - not very far back - to a time when the values of the Islamic revolution were strictly enforced. But so many Iranians long for more, looking forward to an era where kids can play rock and roll without fearing the police and prison. And current efforts to simply ease the pressure won't satisfy those dreams.

SINGER [subtitled]: Who wants to sleep in a city that never wakes up?

Blinded by nostalgia ...

Who wants to sleep in a city that never wakes up....?

[applause]