Source: www.bic.org
Persian translation here
GENEVA—16 October 2023—A major feature of the #OurStoryIsOne campaign—a global movement to commemorate the 1983 execution of 10 Baha’i women in Shiraz, Iran, and to link their story to millions of Iranian women struggling for gender equality and justice today—has been the artistic contributions shared around the world to amplify the campaign’s message. Thousands of people have offered paintings, poems, and other creative works, to remember the women who gave their lives for their beliefs.
Now the Irish musician Luke Slott has joined the campaign. Mr. Slott’s concert tour will feature new and original musical pieces including a song dedicated to the 10 women, called “To Die With You,” and will include 26 events across seven countries. Mr. Slott’s song features accompanying vocals from Brazilian singer Jasmine Olinga Howard who will also join him across the tour.
In his YouTube video announcing the campaign, Mr. Slott said, “I’m a musician from Ireland, and I’m about to launch an international concert tour dedicated to the people of Iran.” He then added “Why is an Irish musician dedicating a tour to the people of Iran?”
Noting that Iran and its gender equality movement, led by women, supported by men and children, had been in the “global spotlight” for the past year, Mr. Slott said that “what is dawning on the global consciousness is the fact that abuses of the Iranian people by their own government … have been going on systematically, and often concealed from the rest of the world, for more than 40 years, and that these abuses affect Iranian people of many different groups and walks of life.”
“And so, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the sacrifices made by the 10 women of Shiraz, and in solidarity with the sacrifices being made by the people of Iran today, I’m launching this international tour to support the year-long campaign called Our Story Is One,” Mr. Slott said.
“The Baha’i International Community is gratified, grateful, and thrilled by the outpouring of creative contributions that have come from around the world to support the Our Story is One campaign, showing the resonance of the campaign’s message of oneness and unity across societies, in every corner of the globe,” said Simin Fahandej, BIC Representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “What better illustration of the campaign’s message can there be than to see an Irish musician offer his unique voice and music to the people of Iran? The stories of all people are truly connected, through common threads that unify us all and despite our differences, and Luke’s tour and his songs reminds us of this truth.”
“Luke’s concert also reminds us that the story of equality and justice is for everyone, all over the world, and that the arts resonate and help to articulate the deepest aspirations of people to see each other with the eye of unity rather than the divisive rhetoric we see today,” Ms. Fahandej added.
Mr. Slott’s concerts—which started in Ireland, before moving on to the United Kingdom, with dates in France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, and Cyprus yet to come—include moving stories about each of the 10 Baha’i women. The youngest, Mona Mahmoudnejad, was just 17 years old and most of the women were in their twenties. The concerts have seen sell-out audiences and local media coverage.
The song dedicated to the 10 women executed in Shiraz, “To Die With You,” which Mr. Slott sings during his performance, ends with an extended recitation of the names of each of the women.
Details on the #OurStoryIsOne Luke Slott tour, including concert dates and venues, can be seen at Mr. Slott’s website and Instagram page.
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