| "Baraye" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byShervin Hajipour | ||||
| Language | Persian | |||
| Released | September 28, 2022 (2022-09-28) | |||
| Genre | Ballad[1] | |||
| Length | 2:30 | |||
| Songwriter | Shervin Hajipour | |||
| Producer | Shervin Hajipour | |||
| Shervin Hajipour singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Baraye" onYouTube | ||||
"Baraye" (Persian:برای,lit. "For..." or "Because of...") is a 2022power ballad by Iranian singer-songwriterShervin Hajipour, inspired by thedeath of Mahsa Amini and itsaftermath.[1] Widely called theanthem of the protests, "Baraye" received critical acclaim for its vocals and portrayal of the emotions of the Iranian people and diaspora. At the65th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2023, the song won the first-ever special merit award for Best Song for Social Change. This award for the year's bestprotest song is now presented annually.[2][3]
The song was inspired by the death ofMahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was arrested for allegedly wearing herhijab improperly and whose death in police custody was alleged to have been caused by severe beating byreligious morality police officers.[4] Amini's death sparkedmassive global protests and became a symbol for freedom in Iran.[5] The slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom", which was used in the song's lyrics, became a rallying cry during the protests.[6]
Afree translation of the lyrics:
For a dance in the alley;
For breaking the taboo of kissing in public;
Forour sisters, mine and yours;
For a change in the minds of the fanatics;
For parents shame for empty pockets;
For the longing for a normal life;
For the dreams of thedumpster kids;
For this command economy;
For this polluted air;
For the dyingTehran's landmark trees;
ForPirouz (thePersian cheetah) about to go extinct;
For theunjustly banned street dogs,
For these non-stop tears;
For theloss of the downed passengers;
For the faces that smile no more;
For the school kids, for the future;
For thisforced road to paradise;
For thejailedbeautiful minds;
For the neglected Afghan refugee kids;
For this list that goes on and on;
For these meaningless hostilechants;
For therubbles of the bribe-built houses;
For feeling peace of mind;
For the rise of sun after long-lasting nights;
For thetranquilizers and insomnia;
For man, homeland, prosperity;
For thegirl who wished she was a boy;
After the death of Mahsa Amini and the start of the protests, a trend began on Iranian social media, particularly Twitter, where users explained their reasons for protesting and wishing for regime change in Iran with posts beginning with the word "baraye", or "for".
Hajipour wrote each verse of the lyrics based on a separate tweet. The resulting text touches upon several issues, including low life satisfaction, the rights of women, children, refugees, and animals, environmental concerns,recession and poverty,theocracy and outdated social and religious taboos,militarism and political corruption,local corruption, freedom of speech, and the government's hostility against other countries.
The music video was recorded with a stationary camera in a portrait-selfie style in a room. In the video, cropped screenshots depicting the original tweets are synced with the associated verses, crediting the authors.
The song was released on September 28, 2022, on Hajipour's Instagram account. It was taken down from the platform less than 48 hours later, following Hajipour's arrest by the authorities on September 29.[7] It received about 40 million views during that time.
Hajipour was forced to remove the song from his social media platforms by theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's security agents shortly after his arrest. The arrest sparked reactions internationally.
On October 4, 2022, Hajipour was released on bail "so that his case can go through the legal process," according to Mohammad Karimi, prosecutor of the northern province ofMazandaran.[8]
On October 10, 2022,Variety reported that the protest song received nearly 100,000 submissions for a new category at the comingGrammy Awards.[9]
The Academy is deeply moved by the overwhelming volume of submissions for Shervin Hajipour's "Baraye" for our new Special Merit Award, Best Song for Social Change. While we cannot predict who might win the award, we are humbled by the knowledge that the Academy is a platform for people who want to show support for the idea that music is a powerful catalyst for change. The Academy steadfastly supports freedom of expression and art that's created to empower communities in need. Because music serves the world, and the Recording Academy exists to serve the music.
— Harvey Mason Jr. / CEO of TheRecording Academy
Answering aBillboard question about the meaning of a Grammy forBaraye for the Iranians,Iranian American Grammy-winningelectronic musician and producerDubfire said that it "will undoubtedly embolden the revolutionaries in Iran".
On February 5, 2023,Baraye became the first song ever to be awarded with a Grammy for Best Song for Social Change. The award was presented byJill Biden in the absence of Hajipour.
In response to his win, and after months of silence, Hajipour posted on his Instagram account "We won".
Upon its release, "Baraye" became an instant hit and immediately turned into the unofficial anthem of the uprising. It was widely used during gatherings, from schools and universities to streets, both nationwide and across the globe. It was broadly circulated in social media and foreign TV channels and radio stations as well. The song also served as the backdrop for several other forms of art such as video works, graphic design, and performance art. On November 11, 2022,Roxana Saberi reported the song as "the most viral tune to ever come out of Iran".[12] Since its release,Baraye has become the single most covered protest song in Iran's history.[13]
Baraye was played for solidarity in several events and performances at universities outside of Iran such asUniversity of Waterloo,Yale School of Medicine,UW-Milwaukee,Chalmers University of Technology,University of Rochester,Ruhr University Bochum,Technical University of Braunschweig,Gatton Student Center ofUniversity of Kentucky andNuremberg University of Music.[citation needed]
Honourable senators, I continue on a somber note and wish to give voice to the brave Iranian women, men, girls, and boys who are facing a brutal regime in Iran. What better way to do this than to use their own words? These words, which I will read out shortly, were crowdsourced by 25‑year-old musician Shervin Hajipour who captured their essence and put them to music. On the release of the song, he was, of course, immediately jailed and tortured before being released again. He has gone silent, but the song has gone viral — not just in Iran but, in fact, globally. I am fortunate enough to understand Persian, and every time I listen to this piece, I go weak in the knees. I am struck by how inclusive the words are, and how they are a musical cry for justice. So here goes...
— Ratna Omidvar / at theSenate of Canada
It's a human message. In haute couture, you put women on a pedestal, so you can't help but think of all the other women and their right to freedom, too.
— Haider Ackermann /Vogue
The song has been covered by multiple artists and entities includingShelley Segal,[22]Ana Alcaide, andMalmö Opera, and in different languages such as Italian, German, English, Spanish, and French.
The song's singular overnight success is not a small achievement given the long, rich history of protest songs in Iran. Already at the time of Iran's Constitutional Revolution in 1906, poets created songs about the spilled blood of the youth who agitated for representative government and, not long after, about the Morning Bird breaking the cage of oppression, which many decades later became one of the most intoned protest songs in post-revolutionary Iran... Although Baraye and other songs of the current protest movement continue this strong tradition, they... no longer call for reforms... In 2009, many activists and musicians of the Green Movement called forth songs from the 1979 revolution to stake a claim to the revolution's original yet unattained promises. People wore headscarves and wristbands in the green of Imam Hussain and went to their rooftops to shout Allahu akbar to invoke God's help against a corrupt, earthly power. But this time around, there are no religious signifiers or any demands for reforms. If classical songs are performed, they are not the icon Mohammad Reza Shajarian's conciliatory song Language of Fire in 2009, when Iranians were still agitating for reforms from within, but his militant 1979 song Night Traveler... The state security system instantly understood the significance of Baraye as a protest song.
— Nahid Siamdoust /Los Angeles Times
You can arrest the writer, but you can't arrest the song. It's already out there. It's in the hearts of the people. People will chant it. They'll march with it. That's exactly the spirit that we wrote this in, is that you can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill a revolution. When I see the women singing for freedom, for the students, for our futures, this right to freedom, this right to my humanity, to be valued as a person is so powerful that even with the media blackout, they could not silence the song.
— Maimouna Youssef / in an interview withLeila Fadel
The Islamic Republic has declared war on life, disdaining daily life and imposing unprecedented problems such as corruption, precariousness, the environmental crisis, and serious discrimination and inequality... This song, its rapid rise in popularity, and the singer's arrest demonstrate the power of ordinary people to disrupt existing norms.
— Fatemeh Sadeghi / in an interview withLina Attalah
Music has always been a healing and comforting medium, the glue to all art forms. It's so powerful to see "Baraye" unite all Iranians across the world. I think every Farsi-speaking (referring toPersian) person can sing that song at the top of their lungs and mean every word regardless of who they are. I commend Shervin Hajipour's bravery in releasing this anthem and taking the consequences for it.
