Friday, July 3, 2009

Bon Jovi Stands by Iran

Have you seen this? It's pretty cool. Via Pajamas Media and Ryan Mauro, Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and friends, including some Iranian musicians, do a cover of Stand by Me in both English and Farsi.



Mauro attests to the power of music when he writes:

"The technologically proficient Iranian population will make their own videos, playing the music in the background with images of the mixture of pain and hope that defines Iran today. It will be played in their homes as a form of protest and it will be played at rallies and demonstrations. It will be impossible for the regime to silence the music if each Iranian plays it loudly on their cell phones, laptops, portable music players, or even from speakers in their homes. The comfort they will feel as they walk down the street, fighting back the tears as they think of their loved ones being detained and beaten, while faintly hearing the music from another Iranian passing by will be immense. The rest of Hollywood needs to follow Bon Jovi’s lead, making awareness ads, fundraising for humanitarian aid if avenues to get it to the Iranians can be found (star power has a way of making things happen), and making similar videos so that Iranians can know that our short attention span hasn’t caused our ears to turn away from their voices."

Amen to that!

1 comment:

G.R. said...

In the mean time you have buffoons like Ashton Kutcher and Anonymous, who stayed up four nights doing something he never revealed, thinking they are supporting the cause or something by twittering the night away.

Then you have Obama, who is probably singing "Stand By Me" to deposed Latin American dictators, and their allied: Chavez, Castro, Ortega...