The Kurdish music group Hunergeha Welat from Rojava in northern Syria on Friday released the video of a song to demonstrate its solidarity with women whose protests have been continuing unabated in Iran for the last three weeks.
The video shows women taking out their headscarves, one way Iranian women have been showing their anger after the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina (Mahsa) Amini died after falling into a coma due to violence she suffered at the hands of the Iranian morality police, who arrested her for violating the country’s hijab law.
Hunergeha Welat, meaning ‘Home Country Art Workshop,’ is a Kurdish music group founded in 2019 and based in Qamishli in northern Syria. The lyrics of their song “Serheldan” (Uprising) are translated as follows:
In the streets and the cities, at celebrations and weddings
“Woman, Life, Freedom!” is the slogan of the uprising
This our tumultuous dance to the sound of the drums and the zurna,*
And the clapping of hands, is revenge for thousands of years
Woman, Life, Freedom! Death to the dictator!
The Kurdish group is not the alone in lending its support to rallies in Iran through music. The Iranian musician Shervin Hajiaghapour also released on Friday a song named “Baraye Azadi” (For Freedom).
However, the video of that song, which had millions of views in 24 hours, was removed from the musician’s Instagram page and Hajiaghapour was taken into custody by the Iranian police, according to the Iranian Students News Agency.
Musicians all over the world have been sharing the video of “Baraye Azadi” to show their solidarity for Hajiaghapour following his arrest.
Meanwhile, the Iranian director, producer, actor and singer Mehran Modiri was also arrested over his support for the protests on return to the country from a week abroad, Iran’s state news agency reported.
The Iranian government labels the ongoing protests as ‘riots’ and is trying to repress them by arresting thousands of people, including journalists, activists, artists and athletes.
