The protests in Iran may have been shoved off the front pages by Jacko, but a quartet of young Iranian-American recording artists are beaming out digital message of solidarity to their peers in the streets of Tehran. The group, calling themselves the Freedom Glory Project and working in concert with a filmmaker, put together the song and video below in just five days. It’s called “Freedom, Glory, Be Our Name.”
Singing bass is Raam, lead singer from Hypernova, an underground band from Tehran. The baritone: Johnny B. He wrote the anthem and is a composer, guitarist, poet, and front man for Electric Black. Ali Eskandarian, the tenor, is a recording artist for Judy Collins and was raised on Air Force bases in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war before being granted political asylum in the U.S. And Esfand, the Persian drum (Daf) player, has roots in sacred Persian music, which he has translated into electronic-pop sounds. The man behind the camera, Nariman Hamed, recently moved to the United States and has worked with renowned Iranian artists like Shirin Neshat.
The five gathered in a studio on June 26, a day after performing a sold-out show and, in 12 hours, recorded, mixed, and mastered “Freedom, Glory, Be Our Name.” During the session, they got an unexpected call from Amnesty International asking them to perform at a rally in Columbus Circle in New York City that evening.
In a mad dash, they made it there at dusk, and soon after their performance, the anthem began to spread. They were featured on the local news, and released the video and song onto the internet Wednesday morning. By tomorrow, it may be on the lips of protesters.