Living & Arts

Filmmaker and rapper give voice to Iran's youth

Filmmaker-and-rapper-give-voice-to-irans-youth

Photo courtesy of campusprogress.org

In print | March 26, 2009

With her documentary “Nobody’s Enemy,” Iranian-American Neda Sarmast wants to give voice the Iranian youth, who make up nearly three-quarters of a nation, too often only mentioned alongside Islamic extremism in American media. Sarmast’s documentary, which largely channels the thoughts of various college-age Iranians, focuses on dialogue rather than antagonism to discuss the country’s rich cultural past and work towards a more understanding future. One of the hopeful voices in “Nobody’s Enemy” is the largest star in Iran’s burgeoning hip-hop scene, the 27-year old Yas. The Phoenix discussed the film and Yas’s music with the two before they arrive at Swarthmore on Friday, March 27 at 7 p.m. in the LPAC Cinema.

Alex Ho: How did you come to make this documentary?

Neda Sarmast: My intention, as an Iranian who has lived in America for so many years, was that I really wanted to humanize the culture that I thought was being demonized in the media. Having traveled back and forth to Iran so many times, I always felt that there were so many questions that Americans had about the Iranian people […] It was something that was really a calling for me, trying to show a side of the Iranian culture and a side of the youth culture, focusing on the youth because they are 70 percent of the population and I rarely ever saw or heard anything coming out of them. […] My agenda was really to […] show my culture, to show where I come from [and] to show through film and entertainment and music who these people are and to really get their voices heard and have them be seen here.

AH: There’s an interesting clip from your film that takes place on the night of the 2005 presidential election. Are politics a focus of your film?

NS: There’s no political agenda for myself or this film. I really tried hard to get a point across, really show a cultural view of the country without trying politicize it. If you wanted to get into the politics, all you’d have to do is get out your news, and I thought that there was so much of that already going on. I wasn’t into giving a political point, although, having said that, it’s obvious that between our national cultures right now there is a political conversation going on, and you can’t deny that. Even in Iran, going out to a store and buying tomatoes turns into a political conversation. But there really was no political agenda with this film. Again, my main focus was to really give a glimpse of the youth culture, because I thought it was important to see how in so many ways we’re so similar. […] It’s always our differences that are highlighted here in the media. […] There’s a rich and beautiful heritage that we own and are really proud of. […] There’s so much more to Iran and the people of Iran than what you hear on the news.

AH: How did Yas come to be a part of your film?

NS: I have worked in music and marketing and management and PR. My background was in music for about 17 years or so. So when I went back to Iran, I was just naturally very curious to learn more about the music there. [I was told about] this great rapper whose name is Yas and said it was okay for us to go talk to him, and up until then I didn’t even know that Persian hip-hop existed. It really caught me off guard. Actually, I chuckled a little bit because the thought of Persian hip-hop, I couldn’t imagine it being good. The truth is, when we went there and I spoke with Yas and he explained to me his life and his story and put on one of his songs, the entire room just was quiet because everyone was just completely enamored by this song. It was about the Bam earthquake and his experience. It was so moving. And as he’s said, poetry is in the blood of every Iranian. Having said that, it made sense, in Iran, that this is just something in their blood and now that they’re able to put it on top of these modern music and beats, it sounds amazing. It was my first glimpse into this rich, vibrant music, Persian hip-hop, which has, since the last three, four years, just gotten tremendous. I was also interested because, where I come from, it’s always about making money and becoming famous, and they weren’t doing that. They were just talking about and singing about things that were important to them. They weren’t making money off of it, they weren’t selling music in stores, and it was just something that was really authentic. It was very social conscious. He didn’t curse in his music. He wouldn’t put anybody down. He wasn’t putting out a major political view out there. I was just really impressed by his art.

AH: Why do you feel hip-hop is so popular among youth throughout the world?

Yas: I believe that hip-hop really is music where the truth comes from pain. When it started with the black American [culture], they too were also talking about their problems and racism and a lot of the social ills that they had in their lives. […] My main point, again, is that you can say that rap comes from talking about pain. Right now in Iran, like in any other country, there are a lot of problems that need focus. Living in Iran, the youth need their stage, their own voice that speaks out for them and to them. They need somebody that really listens to their language, because when you’re young you’re not really listening to much, people that are older than you or people that are in higher authority, you tend to just stick to yourself and listen to someone who speaks your language. Of course, when someone speaks to them in their own language and has the same growing pains and the same concerns that they do, of course they are able to relate to that and gravitate towards it. So I wanted to really focus in my own style, in my own way, in my own voice. I wanted to be able to speak to the youth of Iran and be a positive influence on them and be a voice of hope for them.
AH: I’ve read that you haven’t had much opportunity to perform live in Iran. What is performing at colleges, like Swarthmore, in the U.S. like for you?

Yas: Right now, my main market is through the Internet. So this is a way for people who don’t know much about me to learn about me through my voice. I still haven’t put on any concerts. I hope to be able to return and, under the right circumstances and the right promotion, to be able to get on stage and perform live. This tour with this film is a way for me to be able to sit down with people and fans and have a conversation about the music and see each other face to face. It’s very valuable to me. A lot of the things that I sing about aren’t just about Iran. I try to talk about things that not only relates to people in Iran but to humans as a whole. To be able to sit here and have these conversations has been really great for me.

AH: What is the hip-hop scene like? Are there negative attitudes towards hip-hop in Iran? Is censorship a problem for hip-hop?

Yas: It’s been great to see that Persian rap has gotten as big as it is right now, to the point where you can pretty much hear Persian rap in every car sitting in traffic. […] A lot of people, depending on their style of music, say whatever comes to their mind, so, of course, there are many singers that may use profanity or may have negative messages in their music. Of course, they too have their own followers who listen to that kind of music. It’s always been my point of view that even though it’s rap, the rap music that comes out of Iran should relate to the culture of our country. It shouldn’t be something that’s just copied. It should be something that should relate to the culture that we grew up in and to talk about the realities that we live in. In Iran, to get something marketed and sold in stores, you have to get a license for that. Right now, rap music is not something that has gotten a lot of attention or has had any kind of major form of permission. Luckily for me, I’ve been able to get permission to release three or four of my songs in Iran.