The awards have often catapulted many unknowns to the heights of fame. The whole world has been looking for someone like that for the past few weeks. Shervin Hajipouri, a famous singer from Iran. When Shervin was sought out by music lovers around the world, he had just been released from an Iranian prison. The crime is treason. He was arrested and imprisoned by Iran’s religious regime on charges of protesting once morest the regime. But it was the Grammy Awards that catapulted him to international fame. 25-year-old Sherwin Hajipuri’s song ‘Baraye’ won the Grammy Award in the Music for Social Change category.
On September 16, 2022, a 22-year-old woman of Kurdish origin, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by religious police in Tehran, the capital of Iran, for allegedly not wearing hijab properly. Mahsa Amini died within days of being brutally tortured. After this, the country witnessed the largest protests ever recorded in the history of Iran. Even women and children took to the streets shouting slogans of Azadi or freedom. First the police and then the army confronted the protestors. It is estimated that more than 500 people were killed following months of protests and clashes. More than 19,600 people were arrested, including Sherwin Hajipuri. However, Iran’s religious regime suppressed the protests. The government has already hanged five people. Baraye is a protest song written by Shervin Hajipuri, a not-so-famous Iranian singer who was arrested during the protests, before his arrest.
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“A song can unite, inspire and ultimately change the world,” Jill Biden, wife of President Joe Biden, said at the Grammy Awards ceremony as people around the world cheered in solidarity with Iran’s independence protests. Then the song and the song writer were celebrated. He released his new song on Instagram before his arrest. The government has accused him of spreading propaganda once morest the government and inciting people to violence. These offenses are punishable by up to six years in prison in Iran. He is also banned from leaving Iran. “The song became the anthem of the Mahsa Amini protests, a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights. “Sherwin was arrested, but this song resonates around the world with its powerful theme, women, life, freedom,” Biden said during the award announcement. Sherwin Hajipuri wrote on his Instagram, ‘We won.’ Today, Barayeh is being celebrated around the world as the anthem of women’s liberation, while reports emerged last Sunday that Iran’s supreme leader had ordered pardons or reduced prison terms for tens of thousands of people jailed during the protests.
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Last Updated Feb 11, 2023, 12:20 PM IST