Ahanghaye Azadi

On September 16, 2022, in Tehran, Kurdish student Jina Mahsa Amni was arrested by Iran’s ubiquitous morality police for allegedly failing to put on her headscarf properly. Amni died in police custody, after ill-treatment and torture. Her death sparked nationwide protests among young people in Iran, which the authoritarian mullah regime repeatedly tried to put down by force. More than 750 people were killed in the protests, and around 30,000 Iranians were imprisoned – including almost 1,000 children and young people. At Amni’s funeral, mourners also sang “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (in German: “Frau, Leben, Freiheit”), which became the nationwide battle cry of these feminist uprisings in Iran. Berlin-based lyricist and author Tanasgol Sabbagh and Cologne-based bassist Reza Askari first came together in 2022 for Berlin’s Klangteppich festival, where as a duo, “DARD I DOOR – A Distant Pain,” they illuminated their families’ migration stories and artistically explored Askari’s father figure. They continue their collaboration at Cologne Jazzweek with their Iranian compatriots Shabnam Pavaresh (bass clarinet) and Nazanin Noori (synthesizer) as Ahanghaye Azadi (in German: “Freiheitslieder”), tracing their transgenerational pain and despair as a quartet – and opening our view from the Iranian diaspora to current events in Iran.