Shervin Hajipour appeared shocked when he heard U.S. First Lady Jill Biden announce that he won a Grammy for his viral protest anthem “Baraye” during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony.
Seen on the Grammy’s Live screen, the singer wiped his tears, feeling honored to have received the Best song for Social Change Special Merit Award.
The win is quite significant as the song holds a special place among the Iranian community with it being the anthem of one of Iran’s biggest protest movements.
In September, Iranians took to the streets to protest the death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for failing to wear her hijab, the Muslim headcover, properly.
Amini died while in police custody. What followed was a powerful unanimous rage among the Iranian community, sparking one of the country’s biggest protest movements.
Hajipour’s song “Baraye” acted as a figurative voice of the people, capturing the public’s anger against Iran’s morality police and calls for women’s freedom. Its lyrics were written by compiling together Tweets posted by angry Iranian citizens proving that it was truly a song by the people.
Being such a powerful song, it instantly became viral, but what followed was the arrest of Hajipour who is currently facing charges of ‘propaganda’.
