The anthem that refuses to go away

Mohammad Reza Shajarian

The spectators, who were gathered at London's Barbican center for a concert by celebrated vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian, gave a spontaneous rendition of the patriotic, anti-Islamic Republic, anthem Ey Iran on Saturday evening, April 3, 2010.

The wildly popular Master Shajarian, a living legend of Iranian classical music, was performing with the Shahnaz Ensemble, under the direction of Majid Derakhshani. The following footage shows the audience singing several lines from Ey Iran...

May my life be sacrificed for the pure soil of my homeland
Since your love became my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal.

Following the disputed election of June 12, Shajarian demanded that the state radio-television of the Islamic Republic refrain from playing his music in protest at the regime's violent crackdown against demonstrators. 'I have always been on the side of the "dust and dirt"', Shajarian said at the time, using a derogatory phrase that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had employed on June 14 to describe protesters. The arch-conservative Keyhan newspaper, run by Leader Ali Khamenei's representative Hossein Shariatmadari, subsequently wrote that Shajarian had 'sold out his country.'

One of Shajarian's latest works, Tofangat Ra Zamin Begozar (Lay down your gun), is a thinly veiled indictment of the regime's actions:


Ey Iran has never been the national anthem of the country, although it played that de facto role for a few months between the victory of the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Neither the first official anthem of the Islamic Republic, Payandeh Bada Iran (May Iran Be Everlasting), with its religiously militant tones -- Our helper is the hand of God/He is our guide in this battle./Under the shadow of the eternal Qoran/May Iran be everlasting! -- nor the current anthem adopted in 1990 after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, with its elegiac references to the Imam (Khomeini) and the martyrs of the revolution, have ever enjoyed the popularity of Ey Iran.

The song became an instant success from the moment it was written by Hossein Golegolab and Ruhollah Khaleghi in the aftermath of World war II. Its rousing melody, rooted in the notes of traditional Iranian music, its unabashed patriotic lyrics without any mention of religion except for the word izadi (divine), which is a pre-Islamic term from the Pahlavi language and Zoroastrianism, have turned Ey Iran into an anthem of opposition to the Islamic Republic. In the following footage, literally thousands of demonstrators chant the song in the streets of Tehran on June 18:


And in this video, violinist Shadmehr Aghilli, decked in appropriate green, plays the tune while spectators sing two verses from the song at a concert in July 2009 in the United States:


For those readers who have never heard the full song, here is a version by the fabulous soprano Darya Dadvar at a concert in Vancouver, April 2007. Notice how the audience spontaneously stands up once she starts singing:


As for Iranian national anthems, past, present, and future, I have developed a soft spot for Vatanam (My Homeland), particularly the following version by classical vocalist Salar Aghili. This 19th-Century song is the first ever national anthem of Iran and it was written by a Frenchman. But that is a story for another post...


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Ey Iran
Oh Iran, oh bejeweled land
Oh, your soil is the wellspring of the arts
Far from you may the thoughts of evil be
May you remain lasting and eternal
Oh enemy, if you are of stone, I am of iron
May my life be sacrificed for the pure soil of my homeland
Since your love became my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
The stones of your mountains are jewels and pearls
The soil of your valleys are better than gold
When could I rid my heart of your affection?
Tell me, what will I do without your affection?
As long as the turning of the earth and the cycle of the heavens lasts
The light of the divine will always guide us
Since your love became my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
Iran oh my green paradise
Bright is my fate because of you
If fire rains on my body
Other than your affection I will not cherish in my heart
Your water, soil and love molded my clay
If your love leaves my heart it will become barren
Since your love became my calling
My thoughts are never far from you
In your cause, when do our lives have value?
May the land of our Iran be eternal
(translation, with a few personal modifications, courtesy of Wikipedia)

Happy Nowrouz, Mr. President

Iran: From 1979's Revolution to 2009's 'Revolution'?

The New School held a conference entitled 'Iran: Politics of Resistance' on February 11, 2010, at the Tishman Auditorium in New York.

The participants were Abdolali Rezaei, professor of sociology at the University of Calgary, and former journalist for numerous Iranian publications including Etelaat, Shargh, and Aftab; Simon Critchley, professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research; Charles Kurzman, professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Danny Postel, journalist, co-coordinator of the Committee for Academic and Intellectual Freedom of the International Society for Iranian Studies, and member of the Chicago Committee in Solidarity with the People of Iran.

The following is a short clip of Kurzman's comments about the video of Neda Agha Soltan's death:


For those of you with a bit more time, here is the full conference which ran for over two and a half hours. The panel -- particularly Mr. Rezaei -- presents some fascinating insights and information. You can also go to Fora TV's web page which offers an outline of the conference and allows users to jump to conveniently titled chapters within the video.

Ramin Ramezani: A lesser-known martyr

CNN's Reza Sayah spoke to Zahra and Mehdi Ramezani, the parents of Ramin Ramezani, who was killed by Basij militiamen on June 15, 2009. This report was broadcast on March 22, 2010.

Tears, determination, and joy greet new year...

Iranians around the world celebrated Now Rouz, new year's day, at 5:32 PM GMT on Saturday, March 20, 2010, which coincides with the spring equinox. The hour, minutes, and seconds (and sometimes even the day) vary every year. The lead-up to this moment -- tahvileh sal -- is similar to the countdown to midnight on December 31.

• 
  
  Hafez shrine, Shiraz
  The people of the southwestern city of Shiraz gathered at the shrine of beloved 14th-Century poet Hafez to call in the new year. 'Iranians would rather die than bear humiliation,' the crowd chanted, repeating a slogan of the post-election protests. Minutes later, they shouted, 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein,' referring to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
  
  
  Elsewhere in the city, cars were packed bumper to bumper, their horns honking, as their passengers shouted, 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein!'
  
  
  
• The last Thursday of the year, as I mentioned in a previous post, is a day of remembrance for loved ones who have passed away. In the following poignant footage taken at Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery last Thursday, Hajjar Rostami Motlagh, the mother of Neda Agha Soltan, weeps at the grave of her daughter who was killed by security forces at the age of 27 on June 20, 2009. 'My dear Neda,' she wails. 'Who can I talk to about the pain in my heart?'
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  Cries of 'Allah Akbar' and 'Death to the dictator' from the rooftops of Tehran blanketed the city seconds after the spring equinox. Pietro Masturzo's almost operatic photo (right) of this form of protest, which has become a mainstay of the green movement, won the World Press Photo award this year.
  
  
  And a bit off-key, but on cue with its message, a new song on the rooftops: 'The darkness will go away, if we stand alongside one another...'
  
  
  
• Roger_S has put together an interesting review of the year using hot-links from Balatarin:
  
  
  And in another review of the year, this time much more visual, an unknown artist has put together what he/she calls a 'Requiem for a vote:'
  
  
  
• 'Death to the dictator' at the Konig Pilsener Arena in the western German city of Oberhausen... 11,000 spectators attended a Now Rouz concert featuring Siavash Ghomeishi, Sepideh and others on Saturday night. 'This next song is for those who have sacrificed their lives for you and me,' said singer Afshin, before crying out, 'Death to the dictator!'
  
  
  
• Meanwhile a group of protesters disrupted the preparations for the Islamic Republic Embassy's Now Rouz party in Oslo. They placed pictures of martyrs and prisoners on the traditional haft sin spread and unraveled a green banner. The police timidly escorted them off the premises, but not before they had the chance to voice their misgivings about the 'traitors' celebration.' 'May this haft sin be smashed on your head,' one woman told an embassy employee.