bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

It might not make MTV, but a music video has surfaced honouring Iran's president, Hassan Rowhani, and showing him alongside musical instruments - which are banned on state television - and women singing.
The video is called Nosafar (New Traveller) after a sentence by legendary Persian poet Hafez that translates as "the road ahead is long and I am a new traveller."

Produced in black and white, it shows Rowhani addressing the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at his inauguration in August, with Iranians in a split screen speaking and singing the president's words.
The video was released on Wednesday on Iranian social media and YouTube, where it got around 400,000 views in 24 hours, said its director, Hossein Dehbashi.
The text focuses on Iran's greatness and includes mention of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, toppled in 1953 in a coup organised by the CIA.
It also speaks of change.
"I feel the weight of these votes and this endorsement," Rowhani says in the video, with Iranians echoing him. "I seek refuge in God and God alone. May God assist you. Tomorrow is definitely bright."
Debashi said: "We made the video for free, but Mr Rowhani's office has signed off on it."
The video has yet to be shown on state-run television, which is controlled by Rowhani's hard-line opponents, but can be seen on the president's personal website, Rouhani.ir.
Dehbashi acknowledges certain similarities between the Rowhani video and the "Yes We Can" video from Barack Obama's 2008 US presidential campaign but said there were many videos that had people reciting famous speeches.
In 2010 Dehbashi, who also directed Rowhani's campaign video, spent two months in the Supermax prison in Baltimore, where he was interrogated by the FBI, officially over his residence papers; Dehbashi cited political reasons.
There is a thriving music video industry in Iran, where pop singers record songs the state television's censors will never play. Instead the videos are broadcast in Iran by foreign Persian-language music channels.


Iran president Rowhani's music video becomes YouTube hit

A screen grab from the music video, with President Rowhani (right) and an Iranian man speaking his words. Photo: SCMP

News

World

It might not make MTV, but a music video has surfaced honouring Iran's president, Hassan Rowhani, and showing him alongside musical instruments - which are banned on state television - and women singing.
