Watching the impassioned crowds surge through Tehran's tense streets, pop singer Andy Madadian wanted to take action. But how?
An Armenian native of Iran who has lived for three decades in Los Angeles, Madadian avoids direct involvement in his homeland's politics. But as Iran was plunged into crisis last month by a fiercely disputed presidential election, the man known as "the Persian Elvis" wanted to send a musical message of sympathy and support to his countrymen.
So it was that on June 24, working with A-list producer Don Was, rock singer Jon Bon Jovi and his longtime guitarist Richie Sambora, Madadian recorded a propulsive cover of "Stand by Me," the old Ben E. King classic, with lyrics in Farsi and English. Although "Stand by Me" -- or, if you prefer, "Ma Yeki Hastim," which translates as "We Are One" -- is no protest anthem, it appears to have struck a chord, judging by its combined 600,000 hits on YouTube and other sites.
"You can say that the mere fact that I'm singing is making a political statement, because my music is banned" in Iran, Madadian said -- adding, with a smile, that his work still circulates there via pirated copies.
"I think the youth in Iran, more than anything, they want to have the freedom of thought, which is Internet, which is cinema, which is music," he continued. "And we're trying to say, 'We hear you, we sympathize, we're trying to get it to you.' "
In recent days, Iranian expatriate writers, poets, artists, filmmakers and performers, a large number of whom make their homes in Southern California, have been riveted by the situation unfolding in their homeland. A few have spoken out publicly, denouncing the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Others, like Madadian, have responded to the turmoil by making work that expresses a more generalized solidarity with Iran's people, conveying messages more subliminal and elliptical than overt.
In one prominent effort, a group of expatriate actors and musicians, led by Iranian British punk-rock-hip-hop artist joined to make a song and video titled "United for Neda." The video includes graphic images of violence and injured citizens. Assembled from cellphone video footage, which gives it an urgent, verite feel, the video pays tribute to Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose shooting death, captured on video and posted on YouTube, turned her into an instant emblem of the protests. Written and produced by Taylor, the song opens with the pointed verse, "Lord, another day goes by/And I pray that they all stay strong and try to make it through the hate, all the pain and the lies."
