Shajarian's death and the "cultural disgrace" of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature

The silence of some Iranian government officials, including the Leader of the Islamic Republic, in response to the passing of Mohammad Reza Shajarian did not come as a surprise to fans of this famous singer of traditional Iranian music. Similarly, the condolences of some international institutions and famous non-Iranian personalities also seemed natural to fans. However, few predicted that the Academy of Persian Language and Literature would also remain silent, and that absolute silence.

As of today, October 10, four days after Shajarian's death, the academy has not issued a statement, and its official website does not contain any mention of the name or memory of "Iran's most beloved contemporary national figure in the field of culture and art."

This silence regarding the passing of someone whose fame and reputation were not only in the art of singing and music but, as testified by countless greats of art and literature, in his unparalleled service to Persian poetry and literature through music, can only have one meaning: the political orientation of Gholam Ali Haddad Adel as the head of a cultural and literary institution.

No official public mourning was declared for Shajarian's death, but all evidence, as well as some statistics, show that Iran mourned his passing almost unanimously. The reflection of this public mourning could be easily and clearly seen on social media.

A social media researcher who compiles online data on the subject wrote that in the first two days alone, nearly 100,000 tweets about Shajarian were posted, with more than 2.27 million likes. Meanwhile, the record for most likes in Persian Twitter history was also broken by Homayoun Shajarian's tweet confirming the news of his father's death.

According to statistics from researcher Mohammad Rahbari, some of the videos published on Instagram were viewed more than 148 million times in two days, and a number of articles about Shajarian alone received more than 59 million likes and more than 1.23 million comments.

In addition to these astonishing statistics, the statistics regarding Shajarian-related content on Telegram were also astonishing. In the first two days alone, 103,000 posts were published in 10,000 channels, and these posts were viewed about 300 million times on Telegram alone.

According to this social media researcher, these 59 million likes, 1.23 million comments on Instagram, and 300 million views on Telegram show that Iranians from various walks of life, with various political, social, and even religious leanings, held a public mourning for Mohammad Reza Shajarian online.

And this was apart from the special radio and television programs of Persian-language media outside Iran, which, in the silence of the Islamic Republic Radio and Television, broadcast a variety of special programs in mourning for Shajarian during the first two days, helping an audience of millions in public mourning for this national figure of Iran.

In such an environment, and when it comes to someone whose social standing alongside his unparalleled artistic standing is in question, the condolences from various Iranian and international institutions, as well as political figures of various orientations, are seen as an attempt to preserve his own cultural and social image among millions of people who, rather than being fans of Shajarian's works, are unconditional fans of him.

However, the silence of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, as the highest official institution in Iran in the field of Persian language and literature, or an institution such as the Saadi Foundation, which is an organization for the promotion of Persian language and literature outside Iran, will likely be recorded in the history of these institutions' activities as a "cultural disgrace" caused by its chairmanship. But what happened to make this happen?

When Gholam Ali Haddad Adel is involved as the head of both institutions, it is not difficult to understand the silence of these two specific institutions.

Gholamali Haddad Adel is a top advisor to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and the father-in-law of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Many reports and articles have been written about Mr. Haddad Adel's attachment to Mr. Khamenei and the Supreme Leader's support for him in the positions he previously held and currently holds.

Therefore, the absolute silence of these two institutions can be assessed as a continuation of the absolute silence of the Leader of the Islamic Republic himself, who, especially since 2009, was not happy with Mohammad Reza Shajarian and did not hesitate to express this dissatisfaction.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian, continuing his thirty-four-year social behavior until 2009, became enraged when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the preferred president of Ali Khamenei, called the protesting people in the streets "scum and dung." He chanted "Death to the dictator" on the street and, appearing in media outside Iran, called himself "the voice of that same scum and dung."

After that, in protest against the broadcasting of the national anthem "O Iran, O House of Hope" on political occasions by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, he wrote a sharp letter to the head of the organization, asking them to refrain from broadcasting his works.

However, in the same letter, he "dedicated" his "Rabna" prayer and "Afshari Prayers" to the Iranian nation, and during the same period, he also released the single "Zaban Atash" in support of the protesters.

In response, Iranian Radio and Television officials completely banned the broadcasting of Mohammad Reza Shajarian's voice from the Iranian Radio and Television, and this ban also included the supplication to God during the month of Ramadan.

Seven years later, when it was said that the then Minister of Cultural Affairs had pursued the rebroadcasting of "Rabna" on the Iranian Radio and Television, Ali Khamenei said in a speech: "In a situation where we have so many important cultural issues in the country, whether or not a certain song is broadcast before Iftar is the main issue. They are writing letters; it is clear that this system has malfunctioned."

Of course, this political stance of Mr. Khamenei towards Shajarian-Jandan was not unprecedented and was also rooted in his previous strange stance regarding Shajarian's Rabbana.

In 1991, Khamenei said in a meeting with some radio employees, “The Rabbanas sung by Shajarian and played before the Maghrib call to prayer during the month of Ramadan are a work of art. They are not a casual thing. It is not appropriate for someone to play something like that after the call to prayer. No. After the call to prayer, it seems to me that our ordinary mosque sound is better and more appropriate.”

After the death of Mohammad Reza Shajarian, a number of users known as "Arzshi" who are supporters of the Leader of the Islamic Republic, repeatedly used the keyword "oppression against the system" in condemning Shajarian's siding with the people during the 2009 protests.

The term "oppression against the system" was used by Mr. Khamenei after the Green Movement protests, when he said, "The post-election riots were a great oppression against the system," and it was later used by IRGC commanders and other regime officials, including Mr. Haddad Adel, who in 2014 said that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi "committed an oppression against the revolution that Saddam, despite all his ruthlessness, did not."

With this in mind, it should not be surprising that the head of the Persian Language and Literature Academy and the Saadi Foundation, in response to Shajarian's passing, would choose the latter between the popularly accepted cultural behavior and the implementation of the political views desired by the Leader of the Islamic Republic, and would not even bother to issue a simple message of condolence, as the head of the Arts Academy did, fulfilling the duty that literary people expect from this academy.

One can only hope that some members of the Academy, who are prominent and respected figures in the field of Persian language and literature, will take action on their own and not bring themselves into the "cultural disgrace" of their respective institutions, as Hossein Masoumi Hamedani and Mohammad Jafar Yahaghi have done.

Source: Radio Farda