February 17, 2023
An Iranian singer has won a Grammy award for his song that’s become the anthem of the protests shaking the Islamic Republic.
Shervin Hajipour, 25, appeared stunned after hearing Jill Biden, the wife of President Joe Biden, announce he’d won the Grammy’s new song for social change special merit award for “Baraye.” An online video showed Hajipour in a darkened room in Iran, wiping tears away after the announcement.
Hajipour’s song “Baraye,” or “For” in English, begins with: “For dancing in the streets,” “for the fear we feel when we kiss.” The lyrics go on to list a multitude of reasons young Iranians have posted on Twitter for why they are protesting against the ruling theocracy.
The song ends with the widely chanted slogan that has become synonymous with the protests since the September death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Masha Amini: “Woman, life, freedom.”
Released on his Instagram page, the song quickly went viral. Hajipour, who lives in Babolsar, then was arrested and held several days before being released on bail in October. The 25-year-old singer still faces charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “instigating violence,” according to the Human Rights Activists in Iran. The singer is banned from leaving Iran.
At the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles, Jill Biden said that a song “can unite, inspire and ultimately change the world.”
“This song became the anthem of the Mahsa Amini protests, a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights,” Biden said.
There was no immediate reaction from government officials to Hajipour’s win, but some hardliner commentary charged that the award was “politically motivated.”
As Iranians months ago shared the reasons they were protesting via tweets, Hajipour wove them into his verses:
“For embarrassment due to being penniless; For yearning for an ordinary life; For the child laborer and his dreams; For this dictatorial economy; For this polluted air; For this forced paradise; For jailed intellectuals; For all the empty slogans.”
For the past five months, everywhere Iranians congregated inside and outside the country, be it protests, funerals, celebrations, hikes, concerts, malls, cafes, university campuses, high schools or traffic jams, they have blasted the song and sung the lyrics in unison:
“For the feeling of peace; For the sunrise after long dark nights; For the stress and insomnia pills; For man, motherland, prosperity; For the girl who wished she was born a boy; For woman, life, freedom … For Freedom.”
Hajipour was a relatively unknown young pop singer who had been eliminated in the final round of Iran’s version of “American Idol.”
In a 2019 documentary short about his musical journey that recently aired on BBC Persian, Hajipour said he began training as a classical violinist at the age of 8, started composing music at 12. He also said he has a college degree in economics but works as a professional musician, composing music for clients and recording his own songs.
The Recording Academy, which awards the Grammys, said it was “deeply moved” by the overwhelming number of submissions for “Baraye,” which received over 95,000 of the 115,000 submissions for the new category. The award was proposed by academy members and determined by the Grammys’ blue ribbon committee, a panel of music experts, and ratified by the Recording Academy’s board of trustees.
The Iranian-Swedish singer who goes by the professional name of Snoh Aalegra was one of five nominees for the award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal, for her song “Do 4 Love,” but she lost to Beyonce.