Baraye Explained

Baraye
Cover:	Barayecover.jpg
Artist:	Shervin Hajipour
Language:	Persian
Genre:	Ballad
Producer:	Shervin Hajipour
Prev Title:	Close Your Eyes
Prev Year:	2022-2023
Next Title:	Garbage
Next Year:	2024
Type:	single

"Baraye" (Persian: برای, lit. "For...") is a 2022 power ballad by Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour, inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini and its aftermath.^[1] Widely called the anthem of the protests, "Baraye" received critical acclaim for its vocals and portrayal of the emotions of the Iranian people and diaspora. At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2023, the song won the first-ever special merit award for Best Song for Social Change.

Production

Background

The song was inspired by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly and whose death in police custody was alleged to have been caused by severe beating by religious morality police officers.^[2] Amini's death sparked massive global protests and became a symbol for freedom in Iran.^[3] The slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom", which was used in the song's lyrics, became a rallying cry during the protests.^[4]

Lyrics and composition

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the rights of women, children, refugees, and animals, environmental concerns, recession and poverty, theocracy and outdated social and religious taboos, militarism and political corruption, local corruption, freedom of speech, and the government's hostility against other countries.

Music video

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.

Release and Hajipour's arrest

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.^[5] It received about 40 million views during that time.

Hajipour was forced to remove the song from his social media platforms by the Islamic 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 of Mazandaran.^[6]

Critical reception

Grammy Award win

On October 10, 2022, Variety reported that the protest song received nearly 100,000 submissions for a new category at the coming Grammy Awards.^[7] Answering a Billboard question about the meaning of a Grammy for Baraye for the Iranians, Iranian American Grammy-winning electronic musician and producer Dubfire 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 by Jill Biden in the absence of Hajipour.

In response to his win, and after months of silence, Hajipour posted on his Instagram account "We won".

Year-end listings

• Slates Carl Wilson dozen picks of the best songs of 2022.
• 100 best songs of the 2022 by the staff of Billboard - No. 50.
• Selected as preposition of the year by Language on the Move's Ingrid Piller.^[8]
• Linkiestas the "Thirty-Four Best Albums of 2022 Plus Two Formidable Songs" by Christian Rocca.
• KCRW's 30 best songs of 2022.
• Musikhjälpen 2022's most requested song.

Accolades

• Grammy Award for Best Song for Social Change.^[9]

Impact

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".^[10] Since its release, Baraye has become the single most covered protest song in Iran's history.^[11]

Academia

Baraye was played for solidarity in several events and performances at universities outside of Iran such as University 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 of University of Kentucky and Nuremberg University of Music.

Politics and activism

• During the November 8, 2022 debate in the UK Parliament, MP Rushanara Ali quoted the verse "for my sister, your sister, our sisters" to highlight the importance of the women's right in the protests, to ask Under-Secretary David Rutley whether the UK Government would support expelling of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. In response, Rutley called the points of the question the "grassroots nature" of the uprising and reassured that, while the UK is "taking strong action against the Iranians," these points will be raised with Lord Ahmad, the Minister for the Middle East.^[12]
• At the October 5, 2022 debate held by France's Senate for the "attacks on the women's rights and the human rights in Iran," Senator Mélanie Vogel ended her speech by playing Baraye.^[13] Nathalie Goulet, another member of the Senate also used the song in her solidarity video with the uprising.
• To give "voice to brave Iranians," Senator Ratna Omidvar read an English translation of the song at the Senate of Canada on November 3, 2022. She opened her statement by saying:^[14]

• Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai used the song as the background for her video of solidarity with the Iranian women.^[11]
• US secretary of state Antony Blinken listed the song on his Spotify playlist for 2022 On the Road songs.^[15]

Sports

• Before and after the match between England and Iran in 2022 FIFA World Cup Baraye was frequently played outside Khalifa International Stadium bringing the Iranians together to show solidarity with people inside Iran.
• On November 4, 2022, Iranian bodybuilder Saeed Noruzi chose Baraye as his posing music while competing in classic physique division of a competition organized by the Austrian Bodybuilding & Physique Sports Federation (ABPF). He finished second in the final results.^[16]
• The song is the background music of the solidarity video published by the Landesliga Niederrhein football club Holzheimer SG.

Cinema and television

• On November 7, 2022 Hanna Sökeland, the star of the German TV show Princess Charming, published a video highlighted by the song Baraye, in which she shaves her hair in solidarity with the uprising.^[17]
• The special episode of Die Anstalt dedicated to the Iranian people with Negah Amiri and Enissa Amani as guests was ended with Baraye.^[18]
• Baraye is the background music in a video backed by Olivia Colman and Nazanin Boniadi in which celebrities such as Brian Cox and Kate Beckinsale as well as several Iranian artists spoke out on the death of Mahsa Amini.^[19]

Fashion

• Haider Ackermann, the designer of Jean Paul Gaultier's collection for spring/summer 2023 couture, selected the song for the show at Paris Fashion Week on January 25.

Covers and performances

The song has been covered by multiple artists and entities including Shelley Segal,^[20] Ana Alcaide, and Malmö Opera, and in different languages such as Italian, German, English, Spanish, and French.

• On October 29, 2022 Baraye was performed by Coldplay in their concert at Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires and it was simultaneously aired live in 3,400 cinemas across 81 countries.^[21]
• Carola Häggkvist performed a Swedish version on Sveriges Television.^[22]
• On November 4, 2022, Rana Mansour was invited by ProSiebenSat.1 to perform her version of the song on the finale of 12th season of The Voice of Germany, in solidarity with the Iranian protesters.^[23] After a standing ovation which lasted for nearly 2 minutes, Mansour took a moment to draw attention to the political arrest of the Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi in Iran.
• On the 30th anniversary of the Arsch huh, Zäng ussenander campaign, which was held on November 10, 2022, the song was performed by Iranian singer Sogand. The event was broadcast live on WDR.^[24]
• At the Kraftklub Hamburg concert on 15 November 2022 (which was held after a four-year band break), Iranian-German singer Maryam.fyi was invited on the stage to perform her cover.^[25]
• On November 2, 2022, 50 French personalities gathered by Marjane Satrapi performed the song in Persian. The music was arranged by Benjamin Biolay and its video contained scenes from Satrapi's highly acclaimed animated movie, Persepolis. The participating figures include Chiara Mastroianni and Irène Jacob.^[26]
• During an installation called Eyes on Iran held on Roosevelt Island, Jon Batiste played a rendition of Baraye.^[27]
• Azam Ali, Loga Ramin Torkian,^[28] Hamed Nikpay, Mamak Khadem, Arash Avin and Mahsa Ghassemi sang Persian versions.
• Pegah Moshir Pour and Drusilla Foer^[29] recited it in Italian at the Sanremo Music Festival on 9 February 2023, with explicatory passages.

Analysis and views

• An article published by the Los Angeles Times on October 12, 2022, explored how the song "became an anthem for the women, freedom and an ordinary life". In it, Nahid Siamdoust of University of Texas and the author of Soundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran compares the use of songs in past protests with that of Baraye in the uprising it was written in, and states that "no other uprising has had such a singular anthem" and that it is a song vocalized by one musician, but "written by people at large".^[30] She also writes in her article for Foreign Policy:^[11]

• In an interview on NPR hosted by Leila Fadel, the American singer and songwriter Maimouna Youssef describe the song as the "voice to the voiceless" and unstoppable like a "wildfire" adding:^[31]

• In his essay How Listening to Music Affects Your Mood posted by Psychology Today, Shahram Heshmat, an associate professor at the University of Illinois, takes Baraye as an example that shows that music can "reflect the mood on a national level" and that in this context, "Baraye expresses Iranians' painful grievances".^[32]
• Sussan Tahmasebi explains to Chris Hayes on his MSNBC podcast Why Is This Happening that the song "talks about people's aspirations."^[33]
• In the conclusion of Fintan O'Toole's talk at Tanner Lectures on Human Values, referring to the use of Baraye in the Iranian protests, Wendy Brown disputes O'Toole's argument maintaining that the revolutionary potential of art outweighs its fascistic potential.^[34]
• In an interview with Lina Attalah done for the Egyptian newspaper Mada Masr, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Research Associate at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity explains the reason for the popularity of Baraye:^[35]

• The German-Persian social scientist Naika Foroutan called the song "the sound of a whole era".^[36]
• In an interview with Billboard, Snoh Aalegra said about the song:^[37]

• In an analysis in Foreign Policy, Holly Dagres calls the song "the Gen Z anthem" and regarding the lyrics she writes that "The needs and wants of the protesters were as simple as that but threatening enough for authorities to arrest Hajipour...":^[38]
• Karim Sadjadpour, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told The Christian Science Monitor: "The single best way to understand Iran's uprising is not any book or essay, but Shervin Hajipour's ... "Baraye". Its profundity requires multiple views."^[39]
• Nick Warner suggests that if one wants to know "what is fueling the protests" they must listen to "the lyrics of the haunting unofficial anthem of the demonstrators in" Baraye.^[40]

See also

• O Iran!
• Woman's Anthem
• Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Iran student protests, July 1999
• 2009 Iranian university dormitory raids
• 2009 Iranian presidential election protests
• 2017–18 Iranian protests
• Bloody November

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2022-10-01 . 'Woman, life, freedom': L.A. protest over Iran draws thousands . 2022-10-03 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
2. News: 2022-09-16 . Fury in Iran as young woman dies following morality police arrest . en-GB . BBC News . 2022-12-26.
3. Web site: 2022-09-20 . Mahsa Amini's brutal death may be a moment of reckoning for Iran . 2022-12-26 . the Guardian . en.
4. Web site: 2022-10-27 . Iran's protesters find inspiration in a Kurdish revolutionary slogan . 2022-12-26 . WUSF Public Media . en.
5. Web site: 30 September 2022 . Solidarity of international artists with protesters in Iran . 3 November 2022 . BBC Persian.
6. Web site: 4 October 2022 . Shervin is released on bail . 5 November 2022 . خبرگزاری آنالوتی.
7. Web site: 10 October 2022 . Protest Song for Mahsa Amini, Who Died in Iranian Police Custody, Receives Nearly 100,000 Submissions for New Grammy Award . 3 November 2022 . Variety.
8. Web site: Piller . Ingrid . 2022-12-12 . "Baraye" - preposition of the year . 2022-12-18 . Language on the Move.
9. News: Fassihi . Farnaz . 2023-02-06 . 'Baraye,' the Anthem of Iran's Protest Movement, Wins a Grammy . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-02-06 . 0362-4331.
10. Web site: How art is amplifying the Iran protesters' demands for "woman, life, freedom!". 11 November 2022. CBSNews. 16 November 2022.
11. Web site: Why Is Iran's Regime So Afraid of This Song?. 26 October 2022. Foreign Policy. 16 November 2022.
12. Web site: Oral Answers To Questions. 8 November 2022. UK Parliament. 8 November 2022.
13. Web site: " Femmes, vie, liberté": le Sénat fait sien le slogan des Iraniennes. 5 October 2022. France 24. 13 November 2022.
14. Web site: SENATORS' STATEMENTS —. 3 November 2022. Senate of Canada. 16 November 2022.
15. Web site: The Secretary's 2022 Playlist: On the Road . 2023-01-10 . Spotify . en.
16. Web site: Saeed Norouzi wins silver with Shervin's "Baraye". 4 November 2022. Azam Ali & Niyaz. 5 November 2022.
17. Web site: Princess Charming star shaves hair in solidarity with the Iran. 7 November 2022. TAG24. 8 November 2022.
18. Web site: "Die Anstalt" im ZDF: Satire aus Solidarität zum iranischen Volk. 16 November 2022. frankfurt rundschau. 16 November 2022.
19. Web site: Olivia Colman and Ariana DeBose join celebs speaking out against Mahsa Amini's death. 1 October 2022. MEAWW. 3 November 2022.
20. Web site: Shelley Segal - Baraye (English Version Shervin Hajipour Cover) . 2023-02-11 . www.youtube.com.
21. Web site: Coldplay perform Iranian protest song Baraye by arrested singer. 31 October 2022. The Guardian. 3 November 2022.
22. Web site: Därför engagerar mordet på Mahsa en hel värld. 22 October 2022. Sveriges Radio. 3 November 2022.
23. Web site: Rana Mansour singt "Baraye" - die Hymne der iranischen Revolution 2022. 4 November 2022. The Voice of Germany. 5 November 2022.
24. Web site: 30 Jahre "Arsch Huh". 10 November 2022. WDR. 11 November 2022.
25. Web site: Appearance in Hamburg: German-Iranian singer provides goose bumps at the Kraftklub concert. 15 November 2022. indonewyork. 16 November 2022.
26. Web site: french speaking personalities take up baraye the anthem of the revolt. 2 November 2022. Azam Ali & Niyaz. 8 November 2022.
27. Web site: Artists and Activists Unveil "Eyes on Iran" Installation on New York's Roosevelt Island. 28 November 2022. HypeArt. 29 November 2022.
28. Web site: Azam Ali & Loga Ramin Torkian- BARAYE ft. Hamed Nikpay, Mamak Khadem, Arash Avin, Mahsa Ghassemi . 2023-02-10 . www.youtube.com.
29. Web site: Sanremo, Pegah Moshir Pour e Drusilla Foer sul palco per l'Iran . 2023-02-13 . www.askanews.it. (it.)
30. Web site: How "Baraye," a song about Iran's protests, became an anthem for women, freedom and an ordinary life. 12 October 2022. Los Angeles Times. 7 November 2022.
31. Web site: 7 November 2022 . This year's Grammys will recognize a new category: best song for social change . 7 November 2022 . NPR.
32. Web site: How Listening to Music Affects Your Mood. 8 November 2022. Psychology Today. 9 November 2022.
33. Web site: Discussing Iran's Growing Protests with Sussan Tahmasebi. 10 November 2022. MSNBC. 11 November 2022.
34. Web site: Fintan O'Toole warns of the danger of "aestheticized politics" in campus talk. 11 November 2022. The Daily Princetonian. 11 November 2022.
35. Web site: Este movimiento quiere reclamar la vida. 10 November 2022. vientosur. 11 November 2022.
36. Web site: Shervin Hajipour: Baraye. 2 November 2022. radioeins. 13 November 2022. 4 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221104115430/https://www.radioeins.de/programm/sendungen/modo1619/_/song-iran.html. dead.
37. Iranian Artists React to Women-Led Revolution Taking Place in Iran: 'I Feel More Proud Than Ever to Be an Iranian Woman'. 24 October 2022. Billboard. 16 November 2022.
38. Web site: Meet Iran's Gen Z: the Driving Force Behind the Protests. 1 November 2022. FP. 16 November 2022.
39. Web site: Art as liberation in Iran. 1 November 2022. CSMonitor. 16 November 2022.
40. Web site: What it Will Take to Bring Change to Iran. 14 November 2022. The Cipher Brief. 16 November 2022.