50 Great Voices

National Public Radio (NPR) started a series in January of this year called “50 Great Voices, a year devoted to 50 of the most acclaimed singers from around the world.” I have listened to this program and have known some of these great voices.

One voice was the voice the great Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum. She is, perhaps, the most famous singer of the 20th century in the Middle East. She sang in Arabic. Although we speak Persian in Iran, she was still famous and was listened to by Iranians. She has a soul stirring voice and way of singing.

Another singer celebrated on the program was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He has been referred to as The Voice of Pakistan. I first heard his voice about 13 years ago on the sound track of the movie “Dead Man Walking”. It was a great voice. He was chanting in Urdu. I loved the way he sang. I do like classical Indian and Pakistani music. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music often has a meditative quality to it.

Another familiar voice featured on this program was the voice of the American singer Roy Orbison. I have listened to this program throughout the year wondering whose voice will be featured next. I have been impressed with the effort that has been put into discovering these voices globally.

Monday morning, as I was driving to work and listening to NPR this program came on. I heard the words “… Mohammad Reza Shajarian may be the most famous singer in Iran. Shajarian is the latest singer we are featuring in our year long series 50 great voices…”. As I heard these totally unexpected words, I felt overwhelmed with emotion. Tears rolled down my face as I listened to the program explaining the qualities that make him the greatest Iranian classical singer while his songs were being played in the background.

On the program, Iranian-American scholar Abbas Milani talked about Shajarian’s voice. He said, "When I still hear it, I get a chill to my bone and think that this is not the voice of a mere mortal — this is the gods speaking to us." What he said, totally, resonated with me. I heard Shajarian’s music throughout my childhood. I came to appreciate classical Persian music and specifically Shajarian’s voice and style of singing as a teenager and have listened to him my entire adult life. His music has always made me feel close to the Divine and has helped me find that quiet and peaceful place within my heart. It has nurtured my soul and has helped me transcend this material world. It has put me in touch with that which is noble and sanctified within me. This is the power of art. Baha’i writings state that art is the ladder of the soul, and its existence is necessary for achieving exaltation and progress in the world. In a talk given by the Baha’i painter, Otto Donald Rogers, he describes art as “our human response to a voice on high”. Art gives sustenance to our lives, without it life would not be bearable.

There were other reasons for my emotional reaction to the program that day. When you are an ex-pat living in a foreign country any sign of what you have left behind makes you homesick and nostalgic. When I hear Persian music, when I inhale a fragrant that often permeated the air of where I lived, when I eat certain foods, when I see a building that is similar in some way to the Persian architecture, when I see a plant or flower that was common at home and so on, I am taken back to my childhood and life in Iran. For example, the smell of burnt wood always takes me back to my mother’s ancestral village as it was present in the air most of the time. When it rains gently, I’m always reminded of my hometown as the rain was always very gentle and quiet there; vivid memories come to surface by these little reminders with a strong sense of longing. Hearing Shajarian’s voice had the same effect on me.

Another reason for my reaction was the mere shock of this program choosing someone from Iran and further realization of the contribution of this artist to enriching a culture, which is mine and very close to my heart.

In an era, which almost all the news that comes out of Iran is about the cruelty and inhumanity inflicted on the people of Iran by the Islamic Republic of Iran, a government, which has been in power for the last 31 years; In a country, where people’s basic rights to live, believe, think, read, write and express have been taken away from them; At a time, when people of the Baha’i faith, the most persecuted religious minority in Iran, are denied the most basic human rights; In a place where Baha’is are put in prison, tortured, executed, their properties confiscated and their youth are prevented from attending colleges and universities solely because of their religious beliefs; At a time, when Iranian women are stoned to death for committing adultery; And when women receive 100 lashes for showing their hair in public; In a land, where the life of a woman is worth half of that of a man; In a place, where if a man is murdered the punishment of the murderer can be death, but if a woman is murdered, merely, paying a sum of money is sufficient punishment, because a woman’s life is less valuable than that of a man; In a country, where it is legal for a man to have 4 permanent wives and many temporary ones; In a place, where participating in a political demonstration will get you years in prison, raped, viciously tortured and killed; At a time, perhaps the darkest period of the Iranian history, when so much has been done by the fundamentalist Islamic regime to suffocate a nation; At a time and place where evil reigns, humanity is still alive. The violence inflected on the people has not been able to extinguish what is sublime and beautiful. It has not quenched the light of the soul of a nation. The human spirit is amazingly powerful and resilient. It is a sign of God’s mercy to mankind. It is a sign of God’s marvelous creation. It is a reflection of God in this physical world. It is beautiful.

P.S. I know that the style of the last paragraph is different. It has been written in a Persian literary style. I have received comments about it from different people saying that it doesn't fit the English paradigm well. I was aware of it. This is how it came out. May consider revising later.