All-women Iranian band struggles to break through

Members of the Iranian all-women music band Dingo (from left) Malihe Shahinzadeh, Negin Heydari, Faezeh Mohseni, and Noushin Yousefzadeh perform together at the Persian Gulf music festival. Photo: AFP

The men in the audience clapped and the women ululated as the band finished singing: it would have been commonplace except the venue was in Iran and the group on stage were all women.

The catchy rhythmic music they played that balmy night is known as "bandari".