Hello,
I see this posting is from awhile ago but I was very interested in the topic. If you are interested, Iran is a country where, to my understanding, music was outlawed for a very long time. I have a friend who moved here for that reason. He is a musician and actually was physically assalted for having being caught with instruments in Iran. He was unable to buy music books to even learn music and was lucky that his grandfather was able to teach him. He wants to make a documentary about his life. But anyway I think the topic is fascinating and I don't think he's the only one who's been musically deprived. I personally am a musician and have gone through long "professional", busy periods where I did not hear music (except for in public areas) for a substantial period of time. Let me know if this helps or if you would like to discuss it further.