Friday
Jul302010
Iran Music Video Special: The Award-Winning "Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone"
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 10:50
In February, just before the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, we posted a music video by an Iranian group, Blurred Vision, "Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone".
Well, this morning the BBC's flagship radio programme, Today, followed up the story. The music video, a reworking of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", had won a special commendation at the Soho Shorts film festival. "Sepp" and "Sohl", two of the band members, offered insights into the music and the politics, including this revealing exchange:
(The full four-minute interview can be found at this BBC location, just after the 1:45:00 mark.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIP38eq-ywc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Well, this morning the BBC's flagship radio programme, Today, followed up the story. The music video, a reworking of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", had won a special commendation at the Soho Shorts film festival. "Sepp" and "Sohl", two of the band members, offered insights into the music and the politics, including this revealing exchange:
EVAN DAVIS: [The BBC] has not been covering the post-election furour in much detail lately. What's actually going on at the moment? There's obviously a lot of discontent: is it manifesting itself in any way?
SEPP & SOHL: It hasn't stopped. It's sort of lacked a little bit of the momentum because the repression has become so much [stronger] and grows on a daily basis.
There's so much talk about nuclear advancements. Our goal is to talk about the human rights issue.
(The full four-minute interview can be found at this BBC location, just after the 1:45:00 mark.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIP38eq-ywc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Reader Comments (3)
Scott
Thanks for posting that. A great piece of music - and used in a very powerful manner.
Barry
I think it was very cool of Roger Walters to give them this version of the song:
The pair began by recording the song and sending it to Roger Waters, one of Pink Floyd's founders. "We didn't want to do it without his approval, but he emailed back right away and said: 'From here on in, that version of the song is yours.'"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/ayatollah-leave-those-kids-alone-ndash-pink-floyd-get-an-iranian-twist-2038005.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-...
And I didn't know the original track had this history behind it:
The band now have high hopes that their single will inspire Iranian protesters as it once did in South Africa when anti-apartheid activists used Waters' anthem to demonstrate against racial segregation in schools.
Very cool of Roger Waters. I did not know that about South Africa, either.