Singer, songwriter and composer Mohsen Chavoshi released the single song “Khuzestan” online to mark Khorramshahr Liberatioin Day.
The day is commemorated each year to remember May 24, 1982, the fateful day in the Iran-Iraq 1980-88 war in which Iranian troops recaptured the southwestern port city of Khorramshahr which is in Khuzestan Province from the invading Iraqi forces while sustaining heavy casualties.
Written by poet and lyricist Hossein Safa, the song laments the oppression and loneliness of Khuzestan from the days of the military hostilities up until the present day afflictions of draught and dust storms, Honaronline reported it on its Persian website.
The song, composed and produced by Chavoshi, begins with parts of a popular sad Persian song “Mammad Naboodi” (Mammad [colloquial variant of Mohammad], you were not there) performed by Gholam Koveitipour, which is about Mohammad Jahanara, the commander who was one of the last few fighters to leave Khorramshahr when it fell to the invading Iraqi forces.
He would go on to fight in the Siege of Abadan and lead Iranian forces to recapture the strategic city, but he died on September 29, 1981, at the age of 27 in a plane crash, before its eventual liberation.
Born in Khorramshahr, Chavoshi, 38, has been active in Persian pop music since 2004. A popular singer, he has so far released four unofficial and seven official albums, all among bestsellers.
He has also composed and sung for movies and series including Dariush Mehrjui’s “Santouri” (2007) and the series “Shahrzad” directed by Hassan Fat’hi (released on CD in the home video market since 2015).
In his songs, Chavoshi usually addresses social and national issues with a tinge of romance. He has sung about the drying up of Lake Urmia, Palestine, war-torn cities in Iran, betrayal, opium and suicide.
While the singer usually makes use of lyrics by contemporary lyricists, in his recent albums he has shifted to poems of well-known Persian poets including Rumi, Sa’adi, Khayyam, Vahshi Bafqi, Baba Tahir and Shahriar.
Chavoshi’s next album “Ibrahim” will be released later this year.
