Celebrating the music of Toomaj Salehi

31 Oct 2024 | Iran, Middle East and North Africa, News and features

For many of us, specifically those who have experienced prison, Toomaj Salehi is the symbol of resistance against an autocratic regime’s oppression, and whose honest and unapologetic voice cuts through the sheer reality of a society suffering from repression and corruption.

To us, condemning Salehi to death for his songs and lyrics is the equivalent of declaring war against the people of Iran.

The first time I heard Salehi was right at the beginning of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. He seemed like an ordinary man with a real voice in his music, suddenly thrown into the national and international spotlight while holding onto his truth. His music showed the power of ordinary voices in Iran and beyond.

Salehi has long challenged the Islamic Republic of Iran’s establishment. Through his songs and lyrics, he has condemned the state’s political repression, injustice, corruption and violation of women’s rights for many years. As a result, he has gained fans amongst Iranians inside and outside the country while managing to outrage the government.

Salehi condemns the Islamic state for its corruption, which increases the gap in society where the poor get poorer and the rich become richer. In his song Normal, he speaks bluntly about a rampant poverty which is inflicted on a resource-rich country. Salehi articulates how sanctions, as well as self-inflicted international isolation, have resulted in a huge part of society hardly being able to make ends meet while those in power are busy building tower blocks and pocketing wealth at home and abroad.

Salehi tells of his ambitions for living in a normal country, where people can have the freedom to speak and criticise their political leaders and to defend their basic rights without being harassed, prosecuted or imprisoned.

At the heat of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran in September 2022, following the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police, Salehi released several songs in support of the movement, which increased his popularity amongst the people but also the anger of the authorities. He was arrested, and he was released on bail only after the Supreme Court overturned the charges in November 2023.

The state has systematically used forced confession to silence and repress dissent for decades and on his release, Salehi posted a YouTube video in which he described the torture and forced confession he went through while in detention. Three days later, the security forces raided his house in Isfahan and arrested him again. Salehi was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan in April 2024.

After an Index-led campaign the Supreme Court ruled out the death penalty but at the time of publication, Salehi remains behind bars. Like many others, he finds himself trapped in this circle of corruption and power. Freedom for Salehi is a world where he is allowed to articulate his vision without being punished; in which the government is willing to improve people’s daily lives, and a regime which does not indoctrinate its citizens and ensures they have the means to live dignified lives.

Through his music, he tries to be the voice of those terrified to speak up, and it is only fair to echo his voice beyond his country’s borders.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a former hostage in Iran and author of the forthcoming book A Yard of Sky: A Story of Love, Resistance and Hope. Below is a translation of Toomaj Salehi's song Normal.

Normal

By Toomaj Salehi

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad

Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal

We don’t dare say otherwise, lest we get in trouble

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

Some have to sleep in tombs, others own 10 high-rises

Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal

We don’t ask for what is ours, lest it be a crime

Sir, have you seen down there? The empty plates?

You are so enlightened, have you seen the dark city?

Have you seen these quarters where the waists are so narrowed, from your blood-sucking

These quarters where you dump your waste from above

Have you seen how different we are?

Be my guest, no need to buy tickets to watch

Kid! Go back to your room, you are scaring the gentleman

He is not used to seeing ragged and worn clothes, not even from afar

Are you watching Sir?

You shine like a star, with the glimmering light of the ones you executed

Instead of being reprimanded, you have been promoted for your mistakes

You cut off any dissident at will

Sir! My words are sour, have some sweets to wash off the taste

Here, people are just alive, they don’t have a life

Our kids sleep with empty stomachs

Sorry, how do you sleep with a clear conscience again?

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad

Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal

We don’t dare say otherwise, lest we get in trouble

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

Some have to sleep in tombs, others own 10 high-rises

Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal

We don’t ask for what is ours, lest it be a crime

While the rest of the world is supporting their citizens

Our government denied responsibility and kept complaining

It called protesters insurrectionists

Did it stop at imprisonment? No, it committed atrocities (as well)

No doubt “We broke records”!

We are the only country, where the (COVID) vaccine was different for the rich and poor

In the age of science, women are beaten for their beauty

Thrown in the back of a police van, taken to unnamed prisons

Our shopping cart is empty, no more oil left to export

The rest of the world are shooting for the moon and mars, while we are in the abyss

We are the dead who can’t die

Since we can’t pay for the burial and the tombstone

I’m ringing the alarms, hoping ears burn

We have people who are on the verge of death from starvation

They have kissed the lips of death, where are they?

Perhaps someone should sing them lullabies

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

A labourer’s annual wage is worth a dinner abroad

Yes! Of course, Sir! Life is normal

We don’t dare say otherwise, lest we get in trouble

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

Some have to sleep in tombs, others own 10 high-rises

Yes! Yes Sir! Life is normal

We don’t ask for what is ours, lest it be a crime

We are constantly worried about the rent

We are scared for roofless schools in the desert

A bird can’t fly without food and water

Is this a normal life, or are we sick?

Cheap products cost a fortune

Labourer is working overtime, yet the car he wants to buy is getting further away

In this corrupt cycle, he is struggling

The regime sacrifices a million for one

For the deeply corrupt regime apologists in the US

Those who compensate for their inferiority by debauchery

There is no Left and Right here, they are all the same

We say we are trapped in a swamp, they say they hope to reform it

Is there anything that makes you feel ashamed?

Do you think citizens are your slaves?

You expect people not to eat bread so yours is buttered?

Did I confuse you by calling you Sir?

Oil tankers in a queue, on their way

Red tulip covered lands, green dollar bills

The poverty ridden city, the only sound is the cry of death

To hell with the regime officials

We are all united, We want freedom

Locked hands, human chains

We are all united, We want freedom

The power of unity is ours

Oil tankers in a queue, on their way

Red tulip covered lands, green dollar bills

The poverty ridden city, the only sound is the cry of death

To hell with the regime officials

Toomaj Salehi is an Iranian rapper who received an Index Freedom of Expression Award in 2023. A year later after he was sentenced to death in Iran. Index launched a petition signed by leading cultural figures calling for his death sentence to be immediately and unconditionally quashed and for him to be released from detention, with all other charges dismissed. At the time of publication the Supreme Court has reversed his death sentence, but he is still behind bars. Lyrics translated by TurfHeadClic on Lyricstranslate.com