{"id":58133,"date":"2026-02-15T15:07:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T15:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/iranians-turn-to-music-after-government-crackdown-on-protests\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T15:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T15:07:36","slug":"iranians-turn-to-music-after-government-crackdown-on-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/15\/iranians-turn-to-music-after-government-crackdown-on-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranians Turn to Music After Government Crackdown on Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tWhen R.A. met her friends during the internet shutdown that followed the protests<\/a> in Tehran last month, they were all carrying flash drives to be exchanged. There was nothing but music on the drives, but that meant everything to R.A., a classical music student finishing her four-year degree in Iran<\/a>\u2019s capital city. She and her friends found each other in cafes, exchanging downloaded files by hand, moving songs from person to person. \u201cBecause we can\u2019t just stay away from music,\u201d R.A. says. \u201cWe have to listen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe remembers sitting in a cafe where the owner put on a playlist that caught her attention. \u201cIt was different from the usual stuff,\u201d she says. The music leaned older, drawn from Iranian artists active decades ago. Rooted in a simpler time, it provided a window to the past \u2014 a region that R.A. and her friends could escape to, and explore freely, in their hearts at least.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tProtests in Tehran erupted<\/a> in late December 2025 after the rial plunged to a record low amid rising inflation and economic hardship, and carried into January 2026, prompting widespread market and public space closures. Authorities imposed a countrywide internet shutdown that lasted a week, though connection disruptions still persist. The shutdown interrupted all communication between families and friends, leaving as many as 81 million people in the dark, and made music something that people had to carry physically. (Due to ongoing safety concerns, all sources who are currently inside Iran, or maintain close family or physical ties to the country, have requested anonymity for this story. Initials have been used to protect them and their families.)<\/p>\n

\n\tR.A. felt the loss keenly. As a student, she studies, practices, and understands her own work by watching YouTube performances by artists around the world. \u201cIt\u2019s really, really important to watch performances by great musicians,\u201d she says. \u201cSo that you can get inspiration, different ideas, and analyze how they perform those pieces.\u201d Without the internet, she continued studying, but had to find other ways to feel inspired, which proved hard in the current climate. \u201cI could still prepare, but it wouldn\u2019t be as good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tWhen online access disappeared, her listening habits narrowed. She returned to music that she had already saved. \u201cI only had access to the music I had downloaded before,\u201d R.A. says. At the same time, she adds, she didn\u2019t want to ignore what was happening around her: \u201cI didn\u2019t want to just disconnect myself, with all this disconnection in the country happening without our choice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the shutdown, music moved through informal networks. Friends shared files, cafe playlists became reminders of a simpler time, and underground concerts and music-oriented gatherings quietly began happening. \u201cThere is some protest music that I have listened to thanks to my friends during this time,\u201d R.A. says. \u201cI was a shy student that mainly listened to classical music before, but now I am exploring these new genres like rock, and I want to raise my voice, show how I feel.\u201d Her friends requested she perform a protest song they composed during the shutdown, but any attempt to release it publicly would have required anonymity, and performance permits were being denied.<\/p>\n

\n\tAround her, R.A. watched classmates withdraw. \u201cMy musician friends got depressed,\u201d she says. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t have the feeling to perform or to even practice their instruments.\u201d They still listened, but stopped playing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor B.R., who lives abroad in Vienna but had returned home to Iran for a three-month visit, the shutdown rewired daily life almost immediately. \u201cNormal life disrupted,\u201d he says. \u201cWe even use it to navigate. I cannot imagine meeting a friend or finding a safe place in this climate without having access to the internet.\u201d When the connection disappeared, he didn\u2019t even have a way of knowing his flight back to Vienna had been canceled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tHe, too, turned to music. \u201cI could go back to the songs that we used to send each other with my girlfriend,\u201d he says. \u201cI listened to some of the songs that we sent, over and over again.\u201d Without streaming platforms, he relied on prior conversations and saved files and Telegram archives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch like R.A\u2019s friends, he found himself returning to melancholic songs. \u201cI was trying to have this meditation of pain,\u201d he says. In those days of uncertainty, music brought back the taste of a lemon cake his girlfriend back in Vienna had baked for him before he left for Iran. The cake was sour, but the memory was sweet enough to anchor him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter rearranging his flight and leaving Iran, he stopped listening to that playlist entirely. \u201cThey now have these new memories attached to them,\u201d he said. \u201cI try not to listen to it anymore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring protests in previous years<\/a>, chants and songs had traveled fast and loud. This time, B.R. noticed something different. Before the shutdown, one song circulated repeatedly. \u201cThere was one woman,\u201d he recalls. \u201cShe was listening to Shervin Hajipour, at a volume anyone could hear.\u201d The song<\/a>, associated with Woman, Life, Freedom \u2014\u00a0 a nationwide protest movement that emerged in Iran in 2022 after the death of Masha Amini in police custody \u2014 carried grief and called for peace and freedom.<\/p>\n

\n\tA.R., an Iranian economist and music lover now based in Germany, experienced the shutdown from inside Iran before returning abroad. Like R.A., he relied on previously downloaded files. Like B.R, he noticed listening habits became repetitive, inward, and geared toward self-soothing: \u201cYou listened to what you had, and then you listened again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA.R. recalls his mother posting protest songs<\/a> to her Instagram stories during rare moments of connectivity. \u201cIt not only was a way of her communicating she was still there, but also showcasing how music fueled her need for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRana Farhan, a successful Iranian musician who left her home country in 1989 and has lived in the United States since, describes watching events unfold from a distance as a different kind of rupture. \u201cLeaving was the only way I could continue working as an artist at all,\u201d Farhan says. \u201cBut that distance never erased responsibility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHer music remains tethered to Iran, even as she processes events without the immediacy of physical danger. \u201cThese stories belong to a lot of people,\u201d she says. \u201cBy telling our story, we are telling their stories.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom New York, Farhan followed the shutdown knowing that what she could do was shaped by freedom others did not have. \u201cWe cannot close our eyes and pretend it\u2019s not happening,\u201d she says. \u201cAs an artist, you feel insignificant. The tragedy is so big, you ask yourself, why am I sitting here singing a song?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat tension reframed\u00a0her approach. \u201cMusic is healing,\u201d Farhan adds. \u201cBut you cannot lose hope. Everybody is in a different place and has different responsibilities. We all do what we can. We have to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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