Art as liberation in Iran
Protesters are inspired by the works of recording artists to contemplate a different reality.
In Paris, protesters listen to the song Baraye ("For") by singer Shervin Hajipour, who was arrested in Iran because his popular song supporting the Iranian struggle for freedom.
Photography by Anna Margueritat / Hans Lucas
Odd as it may seem, Iran is experiencing an art boom during weeks of mass protests against a hijab-enforcing regime. Recording artists who support the street struggle are enjoying high popularity, mainly for lyrics that inspire hope and unity.
Just as strange is this: The most popular song, “For” (in Persian, “Baraye”), mainly recites the most common phrases used by the protesters in media posts, such as “For dancing in the streets, for kissing loved ones” and “For women, life, freedom.”
The song’s writer and singer, Shervin Hajipour, was briefly arrested last month. He is a well-known musician. The song has also been widely nominated for a Grammy in the category of best song for social change. Coldplay is playing “Baraye” during its current world tour.
“The single best way to understand Iran’s uprising is not any book or essay, but Shervin Hajipour’s ... ‘Baraye,’” wrote Karim Sadjadpour, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Its profundity requires multiple views.”
The song’s appeal may be that it holds a mirror to society. Art is best when it reflects with beauty and essence the deep feelings and hidden thoughts of a people seeking a better life, evoking contemplation.
“Artworks offer a change of rules in the game of discourse; they make it possible to think about shared social issues without invoking the humiliating opposition between those in the right, and those in the wrong,” writes Vid Simoniti, a philosopher at the University of Liverpool, in Aeon digital magazine.
The value of the arts, if they inspire an open-ended space of thought, can thus become intertwined with the value of democracy, Mr. Simoniti states. “The other response to the [world’s] democratic crisis has, by contrast, called for a departure from calm deliberation: for anger as a political force, for indignation, for speaking truth to power.”
In Ukraine as well, art has become a tool, one aimed at saving its democracy, especially as Russian bombs have targeted national monuments and cultural structures. In the embattled city of Kharkiv, for example, Ukrainians enjoyed a literary festival in September, organized by Serhiy Zhadan, an author and the frontman for a rock band, Zhadan and the Dogs. “Precisely because Kharkiv is constantly in the line of fire, it is very important for the city to experience a full life, so that it does not live in fear,” Mr. Zhadan told the Kyiv Post.
As Mr. Simoniti notes, art can be a unique form of discourse if it allows audiences to contemplate issues at the heart of political clashes.