The Iranian musician risking prison for his new album

Would you go to jail in your proper to make music?

Mehdi Rajabian has. 3 times.

Born in Iran in 1989, Rajabian has solely recognized his nation after the Islamic revolution. When the ruling Shah was deposed by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, heavy restrictions had been made on the humanities.

Something ‘un-Islamic’ may lead to punishment from a tremendous to imprisonment.

Rajabian by no means noticed the ‘Western’ Iran of the Shah period, however his love for music grew nonetheless and he desired a profession in it.

A burgeoning profession and a jail sentence

The composer, arranger, and producer based ‘Barg Music’ in 2007, an organization to provide and help banned musicians in Iran.

The thought was a hit. Folks flocked to Barg Music’s productions. Their movies reached over 200,000 views by 2013.

Rajabian was additionally engaged on his personal album, ‘Historical past of Iran Narrated by Setar’, an album performed on the Persian setar instrument, impressed by the musical historical past of the land.

“Within the album, I known as the conflict between Iran and Iraq absurd and introduced in a press release on my Fb that I'll launch this album quickly,” Rajabian tells Euronews.

Mehdi Rajabian contemplates his futureMehdi Rajabian

However the success was a double-edged sword. The elevated visibility led Iranian officers to close down his studio.

His album was banned and all supplies, firm pages, web sites and exhausting drives associated to Barg had been seized.

Rajabian was arrested and despatched to jail. He spent two years in Evin Jail, Tehran. Three months of that he spent in solitary confinement, blindfolded.

By the point he was launched, ‘Historical past of Iran Narrated by Setar’ was lengthy over. However his ardour for shielding and selling unfairly banned arts had not diminished.

“The rationale for the arrest,” Rajabian explains, “was as a result of I helped to publish the banned artworks. Any paintings that was not allowed to be produced was extensively distributed by my firm.”

“We had been lively in all sectors, from music to books, from visible arts to cinema,” he says proudly.

A second and third arrest

Barely out of jail, Rajabian was arrested once more in 2015 and sentenced to 6 years in jail.

Alongside his brother, the filmmaker Hossein Rajabian, they confronted a three-minute trial.

The pair went on starvation strike.

Lasting 40 days, Rajabian claims to have misplaced 15 kg. The starvation strike was lengthy and gruelling, however finally labored, releasing the 2 brothers. His sentence has solely been suspended although, and the Iranian authorities can reimplement it at any time.

Throughout his time in jail, Rajabian devised the ‘Center Jap’ venture. A multi-medium venture that encompassed music, portray, dance, pictures, and literature.

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I'll by no means censor myself, even when I'm going again to jail once more

The music half’s 2019 launch was a hit, however the inclusion of a feminine artist on the venture led to Iran arresting Rajabian for the third time in 2020.

“I imagine within the freedom of music and philosophy. I'll by no means censor myself, even when I'm going again to jail once more, I'll produce no matter I would like and at any time when I really feel the necessity to scream, be it via the medium of artwork or bodily, I'll undoubtedly scream and never be silent. I am not courageous, I am simply doing my obligation,” Rajabian says.

Launched on bail, Rajabian retreated to his dwelling the place he recorded a brand new album, 2021’s ‘Coup of the Gods’. To create the album, he recorded his instrumental elements secretly in his basement and despatched it to a number of American producers, mixers, and artists to finish.

“As a result of full ban, my solely communication bridge is the web, as a result of right here musicians and many individuals are afraid to even discuss to me, so I've to speak with musicians outdoors Iran to provide music,” he says.

Mehdi Rajabian performs alongside to certainly one of his setar songsMehdi Rajabian

A model new album

Coup of the Gods didn’t put him again in jail, and so he started engaged on a fourth album, ‘It Arrives’. Launched on 10 September, Rajabian has pushed ahead to create the work within the face of oppression.

However he's unfazed. His work is to face the oppressor via his music.

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An artist must be a bodily fighter, that's, he ought to know jail, solitary confinement, starvation strike, torture... and never be afraid

“The truth that numerous artists stay silent within the face of oppression, I believe they're complicit with the oppressor,” Rajabian says. “

"I've been in prisons since I used to be twenty years previous and I've by no means censored myself. I imagine that an artist must be a bodily fighter, that's, he ought to know jail, solitary confinement, starvation strike, torture... and never be afraid. However his murals must be philosophical and stuffed with ideas in order that he can determine the basis.”

The album was as soon as once more produced in secret with a number of US artists filling within the gaps.

A kind of artists is Grammy Award winner Amy Andersson, a classical musician.

“Mehdi and I do know one another via our Grammy neighborhood and have taken curiosity in one another's musical pursuits. Most of the featured artists on his album ‘It Arrives’ are colleagues and buddies of each of us and so it was pure that we might collaborate in releasing this album collectively,” she explains.

“The discharge of It Arrives is vital musically, in fact, however crucial on the human stage, contemplating his circumstances,” Andersson provides.

"There isn't any future right here and so long as our state of affairs is like this"Mehdi Rajabian

It Arrives is partly a hopeful album. “Because the album identify suggests, we're ready for one thing to occur,” Rajabian says. He talks of music items crammed with completely different colors demonstrating the sensation of anticipation.

These colors are there to battle off a numbness that humanity can really feel when it turns into too used to oppression, he argues. “I needed to take the listener to a world stuffed with hope and completely different colors to say that we will overcome these dangerous occasions, we shouldn't be detached to the occasions round us.”

The CD cowl of 'It Arrives' designed by Claudio RoncoliMehdi Rajabian

However whereas the music is crammed with hope, Rajabian doesn’t not see change coming anytime quickly for Iran.

“There isn't any future right here and so long as our state of affairs is like this, I'm by no means optimistic about my future.”

"Why ought to we wait in jail to provide music, to specific our ideas, for only one interview? We nonetheless have the consequences of starvation strike, solitary confinement, jail... However we by no means get drained, As a result of it arrives.” he says.