Monday 28 May 2012

A Song to Die For: Shahin Najafi of Iran + more


From Uddari Weblog:

A Song to Die For ~ Iranian Rapper Shahin Najafi: Solidarity May 26/12


‘Shahin Najafi was sentenced to death by two high level clergymen in Iran assigning one hundred thousands dollar price on his head. The Iranian Rapper sang a song in which he made fun of a religious figure. In solidarity with him, a facebook page is created and on Saturday May 26th, people around the world will come into street to protest Shahin’s death sentence and defend freedom of expression…’

Video source/YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rDXhjIN030

Download Song
http://www.bargmusic.com/1704-Shahin-Najafi-Naghi

Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/shahinnajafi666

Protest in Vancouver, Saturday May 26, Vancouver Art Gallery, 6-7pm, Event information
http://www.facebook.com/events/143207225812780/

Visit Uddari Weblog (or Youtube) for translated lyrics of Naqi:
 http://uddari.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/a-song-to-die-for-iranian-rapper-shahin-najafi-solidarity-may-2612


Published on May 18, 2012 by
CNN's Reza Sayah reports on an Iranian rapper, Shahin Najafi who is facing death threats over one of his songs. WARNING: The Following Video Contains Graphic Content. Viewer Discretion is Advised.
Uploaded by gijgah on Aug 6, 2008

Official Fan Page On Facebook 

Shahin Najafi Email
Sharr Music

Uploaded by on Jun 25, 2008
One of the most influencial and talented artist of his generation, Iran. Fereydoun Farrokhzad (Persian: فریدون فرخزاد ) (October 7, 1936 - August 6, 1992) was an Iranian singer, actor, poet, TV and radio host, writer, and political opposition figure.[1] He was the younger brother of the acclaimed Persian poet Forough Farrokhzad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fereydoun_Farrokhzad


From Qantara:

''We Will Continue with Our Work''

Iran's grand ayatollah has issued what many have interpreted to be a fatwa against the rapper Shahin Najafi, who has lived in Germany for the past seven years. In this interview with Shahram Ahadi, Najafi gives his take on the situation.

Shahin Najafi is an Iranian rapper who has lived in Germany since 2005. His songs are known to be critical of socio-political developments in his home country. His latest song, "Naghi", which was named after the tenth imam in Shia Islam, has caused a stir in Iran. The lyrics call on him in a sarcastic and almost obscene way to come back to life and end the catastrophic status quo in Iran. Iran's 92-year-old Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani said: "If the song contains any insults or indecency towards Imam Naghi, then it is blasphemy, and God knows what to do." The Iranian press interpreted the statement as a fatwa against Najafi. But a theologian in Tehran on Thursday, 10 May, put the comment into context: "The grand ayatollah has not issued a fatwa. He was answering a question about the defamation of a Shia saint ... "

Mr. Najafi, your latest song, "Naghi", has caused an uproar. Is it really about the tenth Shia imam?

Shahin Najafi: No. For me it is more of an excuse to talk about completely different things. I criticise Iranian society in the song. It seems as though people are just concentrating on the word "imam".

One of my earlier songs was about the twelfth Shia imam who is supposed to come back and redeem the world. So my new song is, in a way, a continuation of the other one; the narrator is disappointed in the twelfth imam so he asks the tenth imam to save society. But as I say, the story with Naghi was just a pretext.

More of the interview: http://en.qantara.de/We-Will-Continue-with-Our-Work/19077c20095i1p501/



Uploaded by on Feb 24, 2009
اینکار متاسفانه توسط گروه 2012 بعد از جدایی شاهین از این گروه بدون اجازه ایشون و با تغییر نام برای پخش به صدای امریکا ارسال شده بود
IN ENGLISH:متن آهنگ به انگلیسی around us [our hood] 
follow link for translated lyrics

video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ckQPLV6csQ


Originally I intended to simply reprint the Uddari Weblog call-out for global and local action, with a few additional samples of work. Delayed in my intent, I found myself exploring the story, and the predecessors of this artist-activist, focussing in on one whom he admired. The final dystopian sorrow-drenched work is not a comfortable place to end, but it is the reason for the works, the motivation behind happier-sounding songs that call upon all~ the living and the saints~ to make changes for the better in this world

The worst of everything is not the everything of everything, and so
let us conclude on a reflective note, with a quiet poem

As we began with the visual blending a place of worship, a nourishing breast, and a rainbow flag, let the final word go to a woman poet

The sister of Fereydoun was the poet Forough Farrokhzad

Forugh Farrokhzād
  (Persian: فروغ فرخزاد‎) (b. January 5, 1935, Tehran, Iran — February 13, 1967)[1] was an Iranian poet and film director. Forugh Farrokhzad is arguably one of Iran's most influential female poets of the twentieth century. She was a controversial modernist poet and an iconoclast.[2]



The Gift 
I am speaking to you 
from the edge of darkness
and about the depths of night
I reach out to you
from the thick layers of absolute shade

Darling
If you are coming to visit me
Then, bring me a torch
and put up for me
a little window

I will then watch
the noisy crowd of the happy lane



By: Forough Farrokhzad
Translation: Maryam Dilmaghani, August 2006, Montreal

The poem Hadyeh is from the anthology Tavallody Digar (Rebirth
)
 source of poem & for more of Forough's poetry in english :
http://www.foroughfarrokhzad.org

to learn more about this poet/bio source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forough_Farrokhzad
/
  Shahin Najafi Music ~his website:

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Well, all the information you have provided us in this blog regarding on Iranian TV serial, experience you with their best music.
By:
http://www.iranibash.com/series/