Soroush Lashkari, better known with his nickname, Hichkas (No one), is an Iranian rapper. His lyrics are about society, poverty and resistance against foreigners. He is an underground well-known artist inside Iran.
After 2009 post-election riots in Iran, he sang a song called “a good day comes”. I heard it yesterday and liked to share it with you. So down here I translated the lyric and here is the link to download the song.

A good day comes in which we wouldn’t kill each other, won’t see others in wrong way,
To be friend with each other and put our hands on others shoulders, yeah, like childhood at school,
None of us is unemployed and we are constructing Iran,
To avoid exhaustion of labor, I put the brick and you the cement this time.
After this bloody rain, finally there would be the rainbow;
Henceforth the sky won’t be cloudy of the stones; the runnel water won’t be red like tulips;
Muezzin, say the Adhan, god is great, oh mama say prayer for us tonight.

Insofar as I remember, this land always has been calling “a good day would come”,
In which there is no riots that day and in people crowds instead of damn we give confection to each others;
We’re all frisky and everything’s alright, we miss only those friends that aren’t among us,
Blood stays in the veins and doesn’t experience sky and asphalt, it won’t be poured and won’t be clotted, no mother mourns on her youth grave,
houses are not shelter and outside war, oh I’m ruined within like Bam or like the Hiroshima after bomb, I don’t know, I’m burning and singing, maybe you think I’m crazy, but a good day comes, I know it.

Indeed, when a good day comes maybe nothing would be left of us but the grace,
Nothing is unsecure and corrupted, everything is safe, worms poke us and we are departed, he he (laughs).
Sky, O, so beautiful; beside the grave is green, is grass. No brain wants to flee, if you be patience everything is solved, foreigners’ hand is off the land; don’t say “oh, there is a long way to tomorrow”.
If I weren’t I want you to promise me to give every solider a rose
Henceforth no bird is in the cage, no liberal wife is a widow,
My daughter, your father is coming home, yeah, set the dinner’s table.

A good day comes

Someone who has called himself “Potential Apostate” wants an urgent help. I believe there are many “Potential Apostates” out there that Muslims should help them to find the right path. So jump in:

Below are the questions that disturbed me and no one offered a sensible answer. Even Islamic sites filtered my questions and emailing them turned futile. Through your site, I would like to have answers of the following questions from Muslims, as they have closed all doors for debate and discussions. Face to face conversation is like a suicide. Please allow me to ask these questions from the medium of your site. All Muslims are welcome to leave comments below or email me at nothing.buttruth@yahoo.com. Here’re my questions to Muslims:

Q1. Why would God want his creation to not ask, questions, criticize, debate or experiment ideas that he gave us? This can only happen to cover up lies. This is the reason why we can’t question clergy about things like What’s the proof that God exists and what’s the proof that Muhammad is the prophet of God. Seems like a great deceit to make sheep out of humans. Only truth can stand the fierce scrutiny and criticism and still stand tall.

Q2. Why would God make religions appear only in poor, illiterate and desert areas? 1400 years ago, Greek were more scientific and progressive, why religion didn’t appear there instead? I tell you why. Because Muhammad could have only mislead the gullible, ignorant and poor people. In fact, his first followers were actually poor. Rich and literate people thought of him as crazy. Even today, if I go to a illiterate village and proclaim myself as a big saint, millions will follow me. That’s how easy it is to make stupid people more stupid. That’s why you don’t see new religions forming in Europe.

Q3. If there is Science in Islam, why didn’t God tell us how old the Universe is, how old Earth is, whether it is round or flat, how long it took for it to cool down, how Life began, how Life evolved? It seems that Allah knew only things that were already known at that time by the Greek and ancient scientists and philosophers. If I start a religion today, I wouldn’t forget to add an ayat, “And thou will not spread mischief in the earth which took us fifteen billion years to make. There are altogether eleven dimensions, yet the unbelievers deny our signs.” Ridiculous!

Q4. Why Abrahamic religions, specifically Islam is exclusivist? How can a truth be confined to some people and not others (people living in other places, other times etc. can’t be all wrong). Buddhism on the other hand is not exclusivist like Islam. Buddha even said don’t believe me, don’t believe your holy books, don’t believe what people say, but believe only what’s true to your heart and mind, because truth can only come from inside, not outside (outside = scriptures, prophets, gods).

Q5. Why would God care about whether people believe in him or not? The creator of the universes and each and every atom in them, can’t be so narrow minded, arrogant or stupid. Because arrogance means ‘covering up negative feelings about self’ and genuine God would rather be full of self-esteem than arrogance. God’s name being ‘Al-Mutakab-bir’ is beyond me.

If no Muslim can answer my questions above within one month, I would consider all my accusations along with my questions as true and would proclaim my apostasy (Period).

Peace!

You can write your answers down here to discuss it. Maybe we can help him.

I’ve been an author here at MEY when I felt I have something to share with Middle Easters since three years ago. After awhile I engaged with many discussions and many engaged with mine, vice versa. At that time, Nissim Dahan was an author there and we had great discussions regardless of what our beliefs were and what we were doing. I always liked his articles and also his idea on selling a vision of hope.

Today I was thinking to myself that where this feeling of convenience is coming from. I’m an Iranian and our government and its doctrine is against Israel’s. Also Israel knows Iran as its worst enemy. Where does this feeling come from?

The answer is that we have discussed here just as two authors without any prejudgments. I think when two persons, two nations and two friends have any discussions and with prejudgments simply call the other one, enemy; they can’t understand the other’s viewpoints and here is the misery.
I really dont care about what he believes in and how his life has been. I see him as a righteous man who likes to sell his visions of hope.
I think a good reciprocity is always the solution. What do you think?

Today I am happy, as an Iranian, as a human. Today Abdolmalek Rigi, an Iranian Sunni rebel was arrested by Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.

Abdolmalek Rigi, militant leader of the Jundallah (Soldiers of God) which had claimed a series of attacks against civilians and soldiers in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province from bases in Pakistan, was shown by Iranian state TV being led off a small plane by masked police.
Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi claimed that Rigi had been on a US military base in Afghanistan less than 24 hours before the plane he was traveling on was forced to land in Iran during a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan.

I hope one day our world be free from Religious Fundamentals. I hope one day humanity be free from all alleged “God’s Soldiers”.

Here watch the Reuters video
And learn more Here.

Six month ago I found an article in accordance with this subject, which title was “Adaptive attentional attunement: evidence for mating-related perceptual bias”. Evolution and Human Behavior 28 (2007) 28– 36.
The article assesses both sexes attention to both female and male subjects. Here is excerpt from article:

“Findings from the current study suggest that the attention of perceivers is captured at an early stage of visual processing by female physical attractiveness. Both male and female observers were relatively inefficient at disengaging their attention from attractive female targets. This bias emerged very quickly—within the first second of visual processing.”

“The current findings are consistent with the possibility that men and women have their attention captured by attractive women because such a bias could serve functions aimed at satisfying particular mating goals.”

“No attentional bias was observed for attractive male targets. The current findings are therefore consistent with evolutionary theories suggesting that physical attributes related to judgments of attractiveness play a relatively larger role in determining a woman’s value as a mate, compared with a man’s”

Watch the video clip:

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can also download the song here, and download the video here.

Shahin Najafi, an influential Iranian rapper has released his first solo album “Illusion”. He is the most prominent Persian protesting rapper. His main lyrical topics are society, politics and religion. According to Wikipedia, he studied sociology in university but failed to obtain a degree, because he felt that he learns more from society than classrooms. Since four years ago he is resident in Germany. He expresses in his songs is not happy with this forced immigration.

Iran youth are familiar with his songs when he was in collaboration with “Tapesh 2012” band since more than one year ago. They released many influential singles together. He protested in his songs against religious governments, poverty, sexism, censorship, drug addiction and suppression of women rights.

Now quitted the band, Najafi released his first studio album “Illusion”. The album is great. Its most lyrics are against religious government.
In this album he sings a song for his niece, Sarina. This song is very impressive, so I translated lyric here. You can also download the song from here.

“You’re asleep in your bed and are comfortable, your eating and sleeping have schedule.
You go to school and have a high chance in life, you can’t dismiss it, take it easy, uncle*.
You have a good father that protects you, a mother that her heart beats with yours.
You’ll grow and see how life burns a man out, take it easy, uncle.
Uncle, be proud of what you’ve got, life is like paint and pen, and you’re the painter.
The way you paint it, it becomes so, …

Uncle, learn to experience everything, but in some ways there’s no turning back.
Be careful of the hands that you shake hand with, beware of werewolves.
Give your naked body to whom presents you his naked soul.
Be careful of your soul virginity, this hymen can’t be sewed again.
If you don’t learn and know, would be deceived easily, take your head up and don’t be tamed.
Don’t say you have scarf and it limits you, this way you make yourself limited,
Life means prison which you define your freedom, is it possible to thread a mountain, uncle?

Sarina, Come and see your uncle, the flower that he’s grown now is a thorn,
Sarina, my story is always sad, Sarina, Sarina, Sarina.

Don’t scowl to the girl, who has a flower in hand and wants to sell you,
Don’t turn your head around, and don’t say you differ from her, absolutely you do,
She’s a worker’s child from downtown; poverty, fear and darkness are along with her.
Her father is a junkie, see her face, see the trace of her father’s cold hand.
She is just nine and is not at school, she’s tasted the bitterness of labor.
The flower which fades in the hand of customer, the flower that you buy with bitterness,
That is not a flower to her, it’s a morsel, and it’s a guarantor to not be beat and be punished at home.

Don’t ask whose fault is it, one day you would know, don’t ask since the story is too long,
Earth is full of people who work but some have money, the obsessives
Those who have built palaces of labor of the workers; and many died on these ways.
If you say these things to others, they would laugh at you, since obscenity becomes usual to man,
But you paint your story, painter; let others be themselves, you be yourself.

Sarina, Come and see your uncle, the flower that he’s grown now is a thorn,
Sarina, my story is always sad, Sarina, Sarina, Sarina.”

* In persian culture, an uncle or an aunt calls his/her nephew and niece, “uncle” or “aunt”. It shows the intimacy.

“In 2006 he was sentenced in absentia to a five-year jail term for allegedly ridiculing the ash-Shams, a sura of Quran in the song named “Shams” by Iranian judicial system. The conviction took place in spite of his formal apology. Later Namjoo claimed that he will perform an orchestral version of this song in Venice. He also sang this song in Oy album as a single.” – Wikipedia

That could be a new way of singing Quran, I believe, which you haven’t heard before. You feel strange and if you’re a Muslim, you may experience some kind of dissonance. Is it a Taboo or just a cool stuff?!
Enjoy the Song. Buy the Song or download here.

Download the song!

Learn More:
* The Washington Post
* RightWingBob

Some other Namjoo songs:
Zolf bar baad (Hair on air)
Jabre Joghrafia (Geography Constraint)
Sim-e Band (Speaker Cable)

Unfortunately King of Pop died yesterday at the age fifty! Rest in Peace.

I remember here in MEY, there has been a tribune for guys to write about Michael Jackson. Now I like you guys all around the Middle East, unite once more time under name of music, this time Michael Jackson and write about him.

When did you hear for the first time Michael Jackson and how did you find him?
Tell us about your feeling after finding out he’s dead yesterday.

Watch here: watch?v=RN8B1xvCxI0

There must be another
Must be another way

עינייך, אחות / Einaich, achot
כל מה שלבי מבקש אומרות / Kol ma shelibi mevakesh omrot
עברנו עד כה / Avarnu ad ko
דרך ארוכה, דרך כה קשה יד ביד / Derech aruka, derech ko kasha yad beyad
והדמעות זולגות, זורמות לשווא / Vehadma’ot zolgot, zormot lashav
כאב ללא שם / Ke’ev lelo shem
אנחנו מחכות / Anachnu mechakot
רק ליום שיבוא אחרי / Rak layom sheyavo achrei

There must be another way
There must be another way

عينيك بتقول / Aynaki bit’ul
راح ييجي يوم وكل الخوف يزول / Rakh yiji yom wu’kul ilkhof yizul
بعينيك إصرار / B’aynaki israr
أنه عنا خيار / Inhu ana khayar
نكمل هالمسار / N’kamel halmasar
مهما طال / Mahma tal
لانه ما في عنوان وحيد للأحزان / Li’anhu ma fi anwan wakhid l’alakhzan
بنادي للمدى / B’nadi lalmada
للسما العنيدة / l’sama al’anida

There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way

דרך ארוכה נעבור / Derech aruka na’avor
דרך כה קשה / Derech ko kasha
יחד אל האור / Yachad el ha’or

عينيك بتقول / Aynaki bit’ul
كل الخوف يزول / Kul ilkhof yizul

And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way

והדמעות זולגות, זורמות לשווא / Vehadma’ot zolgot, zormot lashav
כאב ללא שם / Ke’ev lelo shem
אנחנו מחכות / Anachnu mechakot
רק ליום שיבוא אחרי / Rak layom sheyavo achrei

There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way

English Translation

There Must Be Another Way
There must be another

Must be another way
Your eyes, sister
Say all that my heart desires
So far, we’ve gone
A long way, a very difficult way, hand in hand

And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the next day to come

There must be another way
There must be another way

Your eyes say
A day will come and all fear will disappear
In your eyes a determination
That there is a possibility
To carry on the way
As long as it may take

For there is no single address for sorrow
I call out to the plains
To the stubborn heavens

There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way

We will go a long way
A very difficult way
Together to the light

Your eyes say
All fear will disappear
And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way

And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the day to come

There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way

This song made me curious to discover where and how Moldova is. I reached Moldova by Wikipedia out. The thing was amazing was Moldovan protests against parliamentary election result like Iran two months ago! Also situation was like Iran but in lesser extent.

Wikipedia:

The 2009 civil unrest in Moldova began on April 7, 2009, in major cities of Moldova after the results of the 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election were announced. The demonstrators claimed that the elections, which saw the governing Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) win a majority of seats, were fraudulent, and variably demanded a recount, a new election, or resignation of the government.
The protesters organized themselves using an online social network service, Twitter, hence its moniker used by the media, the Twitter Revolution or Grape revolution.

Farsi (Persian) language is very different of English in statement structure. The most obvious difference is the position of verb in statement. For example:

In English: Today is a good day to study.
This statement in Farsi: Today, day a good to study is.

Google translator can’t translate this phenomenon and even sometimes omits the verbs, both in English to Farsi and Farsi to English.
Another problem is Farsi’s words multiple meanings. Google translation can’t understand what does these words in the context mean. In Farsi, a word can have many meanings related to the statement context.

By the way, Google’s English to Farsi translation is much better than the opposite which is bullshit I believe.

In this week I was really engaged with political events in Iran and followed it precisely. Many things have changed in Iran which is not comparable with last week. In government it seems to be a crack or a gap between politicians. This gap has always been existed but in this week it showed itself and made all the people aware of it, which was unprecedented.

Now everyone in Iran knows what is happening between politicians and after thirty years in Islamic Republic (and somehow in Iran’s history), it’s the first time this obscurity in politics is fading away! I regard this and believe Iran won’t be the same; it’s a great jump. I respect this.

I’m not a girl, nor a relationship expert. But I know the different chemistry of affections in two genders of male and female. These are different. Women can’t fall in love instantly and become insane by just seeing a male! It’s not important how beautiful he may be, but that’s not the way a woman falls in love. Maybe she likes his beauty and confirms it in an instant observation, but cant becomes spelled and so much fascinated, falling in love.

This love (by observation) just exists in male gender. We all know many stories about men who are fascinated in a woman instantly by observation and they crash the car, bang to the wall, fall in canal and can’t help themselves. If you’re a male, there’s no usage for more explanation. For example listen to James Blunt great song ‘You’re Beautiful’, which describes a particular falling in love situation: seeing a beautiful woman in street with his man passing by and falling in love with her!

It’s hard to believe for a woman to conceive that many women in this story have fallen in love in this manner (if you’re a man, you can’t understand it, so don’t dispute). These attractions work just for men whom are evolutionary, physiologically and psychologically different.
Then one may conclude this story (Joseph and Zulaikha) has been written by a male or who hasn’t been aware of female psychology! What do you think?

Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran’s elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq.

The officer said training is going on in at least four locations in Iran: Qom, Tehran, Ahvaz and Mashhad. The number of “special group criminals” — the U.S. name for Iraqi fighters sponsored by Iran — is unknown but is estimated in the hundreds and possibly more than 1,000.

According to the officer, the training camps are operating under the direction of Quds force commander Brig. Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, with the knowledge and approval of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The elite Quds Force is a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The training includes how to conduct reconnaissance to pinpoint targets, small arms and weapons training, small unit tactics and terrorist cell operations and communications. They are also learning how to use bombs packed with explosive penetrators that can rip through U.S. armored vehicles, along with other improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades, including the RPG-29 used by Lebanese Hezbollah and the Quds force. They are also receiving training on assassination techniques, employing RPGs, small arms or explosives, the officer said. …

p.s. I cant upload images due to some problesm and leaving links from this weblog, cant be shown here.

Arian new album has just released and has a song featuring Chris de Burgh. That song is a new version of “The Words I Love You” from his 2004 album, “The Road to the Freedom”. This song is like “Lebanese Nights” that he had performed with Elissa, that Lebanese singer.
And I believe this song is going to be a hit in Iran. Watch it here:

Bloggers are not permitted to criticize the Islamic system itself, Ms. Kar said, but they are far freer than writers for newspapers or other news media.

“These Web logs are very effective,” she said. “They create conversation. Not just about elections or democracy, but about cinema, theater, arts, literature. These fields are very important for changing that society.”

Source: New York Times

In 2002 TehranAvenue website started an underground music festival through internet for those talents that never had chance to air their music. That was a revolutionary act. It named UMC (Underground Music Competition).
In 2004, the second festival launched as TAMO (Tehran Avenue Music Open). These two festivals were really competitions and had winners! But in 2005, they launched the third music festival, which wasn’t a real competition as TAMF 2005 (Tehran Avenue Music Festival). You can still listen to this festival songs and enjoy’em as they are still available online!
The special point about this festivals is that they provide songs to be downloaded, freely.
Finally the last festival, TAMF 2008 launched some days ago:

“What is known — to the West — as the Middle East is a sensitive zone of political instability, putatively governed by strongmen and opportunists. Compared to an Africa steeped in impoverishment, a European Union spiring for superiority, a Far East spreading its power and might far and wide, and a US recovering an innocent identity, the ME is a strategic point of contention and Iran an important actor in this geopolitical puzzle, guiding and fomenting political precariousness: Oil, Persian Gulf, and Nuke Reality.

But our country has more than layers of oil, natural gas, or traces of uranium; it has a young population, always in the shadows, and talents that represent it in the artistic and cultural domains. They remain unique in a world dominated by globalized fads and fashions. These talents are hidden to the outside world as well as to the governmental structures and private institutions that operate within the country, all of which make their peculiarities even more significant.

It is in this sensitive political context that the 4th TehranAvenue Music Festival convenes, introducing alternative music produced by Iranian bands, music that is not informed by commercial pressures from the outside nor explainable by trends that their counterparts in other countries are following.

We at TehranAvenue have walked the margins for the past 6 years, trying to bridge the gap that separates subcultures from the society at large. In this, we have tried to listen more than arbitrate, to present music without judging its content. The intention was for those who listened to it, to form their own ideas, for people in the know need to find its values, give it values, “evaluate” it, for music critics to offer their own interpretations, etc.

What more to say, then, than we will continue to be there, taping into this rich layer, which we think more valuable than any oilfield or uranium stock, and remaining true to our ideas and principles. In all this, we must first and foremost thank musicians for this other vein.”

p.s. I did participate in this festival under band name, Waqow.

By the way, falling rain in Fars made people very happy!

But I think there was another reason for you to air ‘Fitna’: becoming famous by a night!

Lets make the world a better place. Why did you forget the next verse of Quran below?

“If they seek peace, then seek you peace. And trust in God for He is the One that heareth and knoweth all things.” Quran, 8.61

Lately, I was trying to find a solution beyond religion adherence, Esra trys to set Kareem free with that Campaign. MEY and other associated websites are trying to make the world a better place. You know why? Because Middle Eastern Muslims are still seeking for peace, love and better life. But what about you, the people who have alleged freedom of speech? Spreading the seed of hatred!

————————————–
1. (Dutch) Government’s reaction to Wilders’ film
2. Verklaring Centraal Joods Overleg over de film FITNA
3. NO JUSTIFICATION FOR HATE SPEECH OR INCITEMENT, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL; IN STRONG CONDEMNATION OF ‘ANTI-ISLAMIC’ FILM