I’ve always loved singing and dancing, like Britney Spears.
When I was at school, always I sing for my friends. And they really liked it. And then I understood:
'Oh my god, you’re a criminal when you’re a singer.'
This is Iran.
The country where it’s forbidden to sing, if you’re a woman.
Before the Iranian revolution in 1979 women participated in a vibrant pop and cabaret
culture.
But since then, as the country became more conservative, women have been banned from
singing because many Shia Muslim clerics believe that a woman’s singing voice can be erotic.
A woman must not be heard singing by men outside her immediate family. Women however are allowed
to sing as part of a choir, or among other women.
41 years since the ban came into place, some women are still paying a high price for daring
to challenge what they see as a systematic effort by the regime to marginalise women.
This is Justina. She is a rap artist who left Iran when she faced jail.
She’s now living in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Many things in Iran are taboo and illegal for women, culturally and legally.
Singing is one of them.
I started singing rap at 18 and I knew that I couldn’t promote my works or my music
as a male singer and that I should be careful, because I knew that the system will find me soon.
Because record labels in Iran are not allowed to sign female singers, Justina like many
other women singers had to make her music in secret. She worked with producers underground
putting her music out on social media.
My mother was against my work, because she worries about the risks. But my father cried
when he heard my first recorded song in the studio.
Unfortunately I was arrested two years ago and a case was filed against me and they accused
me and my activities of being corrupt.
I was met by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] for three days. And they asked
me to fill some forms and write my statements about my works, my music, why I sing about
women's rights. And they entered our house and they took all of my computer equipment.
I couldn’t accept to stop singing. So finally I was able to leave Iran and go to Georgia.
Justina is one of a number of singers who have had to leave the country…
The crackdown on women singers in Iran has intensified - as their videos gained prominence
on social media.
In the past two years at least a dozen women have been sentenced to prison for singing
in public or publishing their work on social media.
They are usually charged with "spreading and encouraging indecency", which can be punishable
by fines, or even prison and lashes.
Sentences are rarely carried out, but the threat is enough to make most of the singers
either stop performing, or leave Iran.
And that's why Faravaz also decided to leave.
I was born in a religious family in Iran.
And my love with music started when I was in school because always I would sing for
my friends and they really like this.
Then I started to be older and then music started to be more serious for me.
Then I understood that it’s not possible, you are a criminal when you’re a singer.
But you know I could not stop myself. I started to publish my music on social media.
And in the beginning my family could not take me seriously because women cannot be singers.
It was hard but, you know, when you are in love with your art you will find a way to do it.
I decided to leave Iran because finally they invited me to court and they gave me a one
year jail sentence. I really think to myself: ‘Ok it’s time you should leave this country.’
The journey to begin a new life wasn’t easy. Faravaz first ended up in a refugee camp in Nuremberg, Germany.
Faravaz has recently gained asylum seeker status in Germany.
But for both these women pursuing their music career outside of Iran is challenging.
If they put out videos or sing in gigs their families might get harassed inside Iran.
When you are a woman and you are from Iran, you are all the time in danger. Especially
when you are a singer and when you sing something about society. For sure they don’t like
it and they can try and do something to you or to your family.
But I am not scared and I will continue what I'm doing.
Many people are fanatical about the system and the religion and insult me on the comments,
or on direct message on Instagram. They say that I have no talent.
I'm worried about my family because maybe they bother them. And sometimes I think I should
be quiet maybe.
Faravaz and Justina have now written a song together, to raise awareness about women’s
rights in Iran and to protest their prison sentences.
We cannot stay silent. We should tell to the world what’s happening in Iran. I really hope
women can follow their dreams and I hope, again, man and woman have the same rights.