Well, I will have to ask you about those threats you received in a bit but first, I was wondering whether we could talk a bit about the role of music and art in the current revolution. Every protest I go to songs, such as Shervin’s ‘Baraye’, are a crucial part of the demonstrations. Why is that?
I think art is the best medium for this awareness. Art comes from the heart, the pain and the suffering. I know that’s the case for me and other artists doing amazing work right now. The truth of my work is what is happening in Iran right now. I am just mirroring it, reflecting what is happening. It’s really important to keep this art going. So many musicians are being arrested. The most famous is Toomaj Salehi, he has been tortured and his forced confession was aired on state TV. There is also a Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin who is facing imminent execution. Behrad Konari is another rapper from Ahvaz who was recently arrested. The regime takes these mediums, and deals with them, very seriously. They know that having a podium and speaking the truth of the people can resonate with society, it can unite communities and that’s what they are afraid of. For the past 40 years the regime has been trying to diminish the power and value of art. There were no investments into public art. So, even family members stand against you at times because the regime made it evident that there is no future in becoming a musician, let alone rapper.
Let me say, rap is forbidden in Iran. It is not legal to make rap music. It’s ironic because so many rappers from different genders have been arrested. But now, they’ve realised the power of rap and for the first time ever, on state television, they showed a pro-regime rapper. This whole genre is forbidden in Iran! But they realised they need to mimic this medium, they need to use it for propaganda. They pumped money into high production sound and video quality, while at the same time they are arresting all the real rappers, even if they aren’t famous. They go after all of us because they know the power of art. They know it can change minds and culture. It’s funny because it seems like lots of people don’t take art very seriously, but the regime does. This is the back end of the war.
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What was your experience of making music in Iran?
Well, it’s been like seven years that I identify as ‘he’. In Iran, I lived and identified as a queer girl. Making rap music during that time, during the Green Movement, as a queer girl was not easy. You couldn’t just walk into a studio and record your track. I got so many rejections from producers, ‘you wanna talk about queer rights? Get the fuck out of my studio!’. But the reason I had to use this medium was because I wanted to say we exist. Our president at the time literally denied our existence during public speeches. So I needed to write a song about it, and I did that for me and my community because no one was doing it. I recorded three songs in Iran all of which were about LGBTQ+ and women’s rights. I recorded the first one in 2009. I didn’t have access to YouTube or anything, so I gave the CD to my friend. He uploaded it somehow and it went viral. It was picked up by magazines and news outlets across the world. I got hundreds of emails, from Tabriz to Mashhad, from all over Iran. People used the song to come out to their families, they sang along to it with their partners and some people told me it gave them motivation to keep going, not to give up and be themselves. Those messages alone meant the world to me and its right there where the value of art lies. But soon enough the government was after me. After my very first song. I had never thought about leaving Iran until then, but Fars News [state media] published an article about me saying my head is halal. They said I’m spreading sin,anti-Islamic propaganda, corrupting minds, so I ought to be erased from Earth. So, I had to leave. I didn’t even know where to go or how to leave the country. I never thought the government would have enough time to care about me, in my head it was just one queer song. But it was proof, straight out of Iran, that we queer Iranians do exist. So, they bugged me, they blacklisted me and they tried to hunt me down.
That’s unbelievable. How did it feel to read that there was a bounty on your head?
Oh, I felt like I did something right. I accomplished something really good. I was like: ‘Oh, I’ll take that as a compliment!’
In what ways did you notice that you were being monitored and chased down by the government?
Well, I noticed that my landline was having technical issues and when I tried to get it fixed no one was talking to me and I kept being referred to other people. I realised this was fishy, and since Iran can be very corrupt, I paid a guy to try and find out what was up. I was waiting for this person in a café in Tehran, drinking a cappuccino, and I saw him walk in. I had never seen someone look that scared in my life. He nervously moved his hands and gestured ‘Where is your cell phone?’ I pointed at it sitting next to me on the table. He just walked up to me and smashed my phone against the wall. I had been bugged for six months. He came with prints of my emails, messages and conversations. I put my cup down and decided I needed to leave.
