An Anthem from the Iranian Protests

On September 27, 2022, a song by Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour ‘broke’ Persian social media. Hajipour posted a video on Instagram of himself singing a song for the mass protests that began in Iran following the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini. Its lyrics were composed of tweets from members of the Iranian Twittersphere explaining what the protests meant to them, what they were fighting for and what was at stake with the hashtag #برای (for the sake of). They describe a litany of grievances, grief and rage over a range of issues, beginning with the demand for women’s rights that first galvanized the protests but also encompassing poverty, environmental disaster, economic mismanagement and corruption, religious repression and countless other traumas large and small.

The original tweets appeared in the video, giving context and resonance to the lyrics, which condensed and simplified them for the sake of rhythm and rhyme. The name “Pirouz” refers to a plucky Asiatic cheetah cub, one of a critically endangered handful left in the country, who was born in captivity and captured the nation’s heart earlier in the year. The phrase “the image of a return to this moment” refers to a heartbreaking snapshot of a sweet, ordinary moment between a father and daughter, easily recognizable to Iranian netizens as Hamed and Reera Esmaeilion. Nine-year-old Reera died with her mother and 174 other passengers and crew when Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 was shot down by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on January 8, 2020.

Overnight, the video went viral. It was viewed 40 million times within 48 hours. It has been hailed as a masterpiece of protest art. In the words of poet and scholar Fatemeh Shams, who teaches Persian literature at the University of Pennsylvania, “We all cried with this song multiple times since it’s been released. What a genius idea, what a melody, what a voice. It comes right out of the heart of this revolution. It shakes the idea of how poetry is and should be written during revolutions.” Within days of the video’s release, BBC Persian reported that Shervin Hajipour had been arrested, and the original post was taken down. But like the Persian protest songs of the past, albeit in digital form, the video continues to circulate and resonate. It can be heard playing in cars and in the background of the latest videos of protests and attacks by security forces. New artists are recording their own versions of the song to keep it and the revolutionary moment alive.

– Zuzanna Olszewska

-Lyrics by Shervin Hajipour, translated by Zuzanna Olszewska