A new form of protest against the government is rocking Iran: a viral dance craze set to an upbeat folk song where crowds clap and chant the rhythmic chorus: “oh, oh, oh, oh”.
In cities across Iran, men and women of all ages are gyrating their hips, swirling their arms in the air and chanting the song’s catchy lines, according to videos posted on social media, television news channels such as BBC Persian, and Iranians interviewed.
People are dancing on the streets, in shops, at sport stadiums, in classrooms, malls, restaurants, gyms, parties and everywhere else they congregate. In Tehran, traffic was stopped in a major highway tunnel for an impromptu dance party to the song. Young women – hair uncovered and flowing – dance in parks, and young men performed a choreographed hip-hop dance.
“It’s obvious that joining this dance trend sends a strong message,” Mohammad Aghapour, 32, a DJ who goes by the professional name DJSonami, said in an interview from Tehran. “It’s a way of protesting and demanding our freedom and happiness.”
In most countries, dancing and singing in public would not be considered taboo. But in Iran, dancing in public, especially by women and between men and women, is banned. Although the rule is regularly defied, enforcing it has been arbitrary. Music, dancing and singing are deeply rooted in Iran’s culture, and attempts by Islamic clerics to take that away in their 43 years of rule have, by and large, failed.
But seldom has a single song and dance turned into a collective act of civil disobedience. It all started with an old man at a fish market in the northern city of Rasht in late November.
Dressed in a white suit, the man, Sadegh Bana Motejaded, 70, who owns a small market stall energetically swayed and bopped. He serenaded the crowd with a folk song and encouraged others to join in with some joyous noise – helheleh kon, velveleh kon. A small group of men clapped, shouting back the rhythmic chorus: “oh, oh, oh, oh, oh”.
Bana Motejaded is known around town by his nickname, Booghy, derived from the Persian word for megaphone. For years, he had a side gig at the soccer stadium, where he carried a megaphone, walking the bleachers and energising the fans by honking loudly, according to videos on his page and local media reports.
“My reason for dancing is to make people happy,” Bana Motejaded told a local television reporter this week. “I only want people to be happy and to change their mood.”