Zirzamin: Saye, you are a newcomer to the Iranian music scene. What makes your case really interesting is that you are homosexual and try to convey a message of awareness through Hip hop. Can you tell us little bit about yourself.

Saye: I am 20 years old. I started my work (music) at 18. But there was a delay between my first and my second work. In these two works, I worked with other singers and once I got familiar with the underground music of Iran, I released my first professional work with the title “Saye, An Iranian Woman”.

I wrote the lyrics to “Saye, An Iranian Woman” many years ago but since I did not find any opportunity (to record it), I was not able to translate it to a song. Frankly speaking, discrimination has always bothered me but seeing that I and the lesbian society of Iran being openly denied our very existence pushed me to break this taboo and defend my own rights and other lesbian’s rights also when knowing that we are not few in number.

Zirzamin: How are homosexual artists in Iran treated?

Saye: Oh, this was a good question. When I wanted to produce my track, nobody knew of my profile (i.e. being a homosexual). Nevertheless, I was greatly discriminated and (their) bad and rude attitude really bothered me. They even did threaten me that unless you change the lesbian word or the subject, we won’t record the beat for you. But I had a goal and I insisted and I finally got the chance to make this generation be heard.

Zirzamin: What brings you to Hip hop? Is it because it is easy to create a beat and convey a message?

Saye:  Yes, the strength of hip hop is that it is very easy to convey the untold and there is no limit to it. And also the fact that it is a new genre in the Iranian music’s scene, that the younger generation is more interested of it, and if you want to start a movement, it is the younger generation that does it (i.e. be rebellious). This is why I chose Hip hop. But if I one day hear that there is another genre which is more appealing to the audience, I will try to chose it and not limit myself to one genre.

Zirzamin: What are you doing right now? 

Saye: At the moment I live in Turkey after going through all the problems I had in Iran. I am actually just “call” it living. You know, problems related to refugee status, not having work permit, lack of money, not having access to song writers and problems related to my profile due to lack of sponsorship, are all parts of my problems. And the problem gets more complicated for a 20 years old girl who happens to be homosexual and a (female) rapper. But regardless of these difficulties, I am working on my next track which is about refugee problems and it is half done but I don’t have a song writer or a studio (at the moment).

I would like to tell to those who listen to me to please help me, help Persian rap and help the refugees. Please do not hold back your support. They can write to me to saye.sky (at) hotmail dot com. I am really lonely here and extremely worried as Turkey is close to Iran and I have heard that they have sent undercover elements to identify people like me. I am asking my fans to help me even if they think their help is very basic. Please don’t hold back.

Zirzamin: What support do you get from people? Especially in the music world.

Sayeh: To be frank with you, when people listen to my songs, they become emotional and I receive various different mails ranging from those saying bad words to those who say that after listening to my songs they connect to themselves and change 180 degree. For me all these are beautiful; even those who are very different to me; it is beautiful that they take their time and write to me. It shows what an impact the song has had. But aside these letters, I have not received any sort of help. This even less so from the music scene where I have needed most. I have written in Facebook that I am in need of a songwriter for the new lyrics which is about refugees.  And this shows that this in line with humanity and financial benefits should not be mentioned. And also considering my own situation being a refugee, asking for money for beats becomes worthless. But a lot of people have written to me and shown interest in taking on such a project BUT with the condition that “you pay us the costs and be part of our video clip” (i.e. Saye to pay them for the work). How can I keep myself motivated in such an environment? The conditions in Tehran are being repeated for me. Even though the number of female rappers does not exceed the number of one hand’s fingers, those who are in a better position and have the infrastructure to create beats, do not help at all. I am really disappointed. If we do not support each other how can we expect someone else to do it. Isn’t it so that we struggle for our own Iran?

Zirzamin: What is your goal and what are your future plans with your musical experiments?

Saye: I have many goals and I can touch base to some of those. One is that (I wish that) not only Persian speaking population (get the chance to) listen to Persian Hip hop. I want to be able to make the rest of the world notice Persian Hip hop too. In this regard, our other rappers need to stop copying and stealing beats from others and engage themselves in artistic creations. I will sing in English in my future works too i.e. making it international. And also I want to bring the youth of ours closer to each other. Because of various reasons due to recent developments, they have been divided. And to a high degree introduce the homosexual and transsexual community of Iran to the rest of the world.

Zirzamin: Many thanks for giving us your time.