Current blog postings at: www.CaspianVoice.org
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From Turaj (past 365 days) . .
2009-08-30 ~ (All activism updates from Sept. '09 onward will be posted on Turaj's new activism blog site, CaspianVoice.org)
2009-08-22 ~ I was just approved to do a
hunger strike in the city of San Francisco, right next to City Hall. I'm going to fast from September 8th to September 22nd, just before going to New York with all my fellow activists to deliver a speech in front of the United Nations building.
More details to come soon, but people are welcome to volunteer, to join or join for shorter periods, and to help me pass out fact sheets about Iran's political prisoners.
I need to raise money for the equipment, a nutritionist monitor, a web cam, and other materials for shorter vigils to occur during my fast. Please tell anyone you know who would contribute to raising awareness of nonviolent political prisoners, and to pressuring the regime to stop detaining and mistreating them. Donations are possible through this site by clicking the Activism tab below, or by sending an email with any questions to donations@turaj.com. This is not a non-profit so it are NOT tax-deductible. Money goes directly to my activism. Thank you.
2009-08-16 ~ My father, Kourosh Zaim, is still in Evin Prison. They are still allowing him one visitor a week. I am collecting information on all other nonviolent political prisoners in Iran and plan to hold a hunger strike in solidarity with them and to call attention to their struggle. The action will be a combination of a fast and a vigil, to pressure the Iranian regime to release those detained and held for speaking their mind. Thank you to those of you who have pledged to help with this hunger strike, and thank you to Ross Mirkarimi and his office for getting behind this action. We intend to hold it at the Civic Center or right on City Hall. I have to raise thousands of dollars just for the permits and necessary costs. I will be adding a "Activism" button to this site very soon, and posting a list of supplies we also need donated. Please direct any questions to donations@turaj.com
2009-08-04 ~ The last couple weeks have been intensely busy. To answer many of the questions coming to me by email: No, my father was not one of the 140 prisoners let go from Evin Prison last week, nor is he one of the hundred or so Reformists and opposition members currently being tried before a kangaroo court. It is really sad what this thoroughly corrupted regime does when they feel their illegitimate power is threatened, but it is nothing new. This same government kept my uncle in prison for years, and then executed him anyway. And that was twenty years ago.
My father is still in Evin but I am told they released him from solitary confinement the day after my speech was broadcast by satellite into Tehran. The publicity is working. They allowed him a visitor (after over a month), who brought him a fresh pair of underwear. I wonder what part of Islam condones not letting prisoners shave or shower. From all my research I feel it's safe to say these people represent neither Iranians nor Muslims. Also--and I will try not to be this negative in the future--they seem to be powerdrunk imbeciles, completely incompetent at running the country both domestically and in foreign affairs. It's also apparent that they are setting up these obviously forced confessions from the hundred currently on trial in order to remove those who might in any way challenge their stranglehold on power. Many of these defendants helped build the revolutionary regime! Now that they are having misgivings about its management and purpose, they are being silenced. Watch for them to go after the top figures next--Moussavi, Rafsanjani, Khatami... It is how a child would deal with critics. It is exactly the behavior of every dictatorial regime, from Stalin's to Hussein's. It is Animal Farm.
2009-07-28 ~ Many people have asked me to keep a blog of significant events in my music and activism, but I never thought it was necessary. Now more people want me to track what is going on with the Iranian detainees, including my father, whom I haven't seen for many years. I was always afraid of sharing this part of my story, having grown up in an atmosphere of secrecy and caution. I feel I've been in hiding forever about this major part of me and where I come from. At the San Francisco Iran mega-rally last Saturday, I realized we have to speak for people who cannot, and that the risk I'm taking is less than the risks being taken by the people in Iran. This is the beginning of my online journal. Please check below for current media clips I will be adding as I go along. I will do my best to tell my story, to keep you informed quickly and accurately of important events, and to do justice to the causes of freedom and human rights.
2009-07-24 ~ Check it out, y'all, see the "Current News" links above, these are just the links that have come on line so far. I was interviewed by every major network plus KRON Channel 4 at the rally today. Also every major radio station out here! I want to do further in-depth interviews on some of these channels political shows later on. If you are in the Bay tonight, check out CBS news, I also like NBC News' coverage. Thank you for supporting.
Upcoming Events
 BioBorn in revolution that tore into war… “Can’t Stop Now” Turaj, full name Turaj Zaim, was born in Tehran, Iran during the Iranian Revolution. He escaped during the Iran-Iraq War, leaving most of his family and a life of tracer bullets and tanks in the streets. Descending from a long line of Iranian rebels and activists, Turaj is both formally and self-educated in politics. True to his music, he left school early and took his songs across the West, performing regularly at venues such as the Temple Bar Lounge in L.A., and Storyville in San Francisco. Last year he opened the Sundance Film Festival in Park City with a live band. Having built genuine underground and street credibility, he is now preparing to release his solo debut album under his own record label. Turaj’s hard-edged, riveting raps reveal him as a child of revolution. Raised on Persian and American poetry since early childhood, Turaj has an incredible sense of rhyme and meter. All his songs are from his real life experiences, from war to crime, romance to tragedy, hustling to partying. Turaj’s unique perspective is a product of his mixed Iranian and American backgrounds and a lifetime of hot situations on the street. A performer to the core, Turaj plays to sold-out crowds in California, Utah, and Colorado, and has used everything from bellydancers to live violinists on stage. He has toured California, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii, doing shows with Michael Franti and Spearhead, “Slim Kid” Tre Hardson in L.A., the Quannum Crew in Eugene and Portland, and appearing on numerous television and radio stations. He also earned critical acclaim for Bad Dreams, an album he recorded and self-released with fellow storyteller-rapper, Reaper (see Press/Contact page). Though still unsigned, Turaj’s tracks have made it onto college radio as well as larger stations in three states. He has spent the past year in Denver at Market Street Recording Studios, working on his solo debut album, Can’t Stop Now. Turaj currently lives in the Bay Area. | My StoryThe Iranian Revolution of 1979 began with the infighting of several different political groups, each struggling to overthrow the Shah of Iran. The Shah, who was the product of a 1953 U.S. coup that had replaced Iran’s own democratically elected leader, violently repressed them all. During this time, my father’s own party went underground, disseminating illegal newspapers to keep people aware of events that otherwise went unreported. After the Ayotollah Khomeini unified enough Iranians to finally oust the Shah, my father continued to speak out against the new revolutionary government, which as he saw it was simply a theocratic face on the same type of oppressive governing. He and my mother both were regularly jailed for their activism. My earliest childhood memories are of continuous fighting in the streets, of men being executed publicly, and of my mother hiding radios and other contraband from the inspecting revolutionary guard. My later memories are of the revolution turning seamlessly into a war with Iraq, and of the airwaves being filled with bloody propaganda. Soldiers would be recruited off the street, as young as twelve years old, or be gunned down while trying to run away from the recruiters. I would ask my parents why we couldn’t stop to pick them up as they ran, or how we could stop them from fighting, but no answer they could offer made any sense. My grandmother comforted me by reciting the words of Hafiz, the greatest Persian poet, and by teaching me to make my own words dance as his did. Meanwhile the men on television continued to preach hate for the enemy, and promised a fictional tomorrow. I didn’t believe the promises. My mother must not have fallen for them either... My father was in prison again on the night we escaped, a night my mother had been planning for two years. With several countries’ currencies sewn into the back of her one bag, she made us walk silently by night, sleeping by day, over the giant Zhagros Mountains. Most of the organized group of about a hundred escapees made it to Turkey, past armed border guards, dogs, and miles of harsh terrain. Many didn’t, and I remember when they asked to be left where they were so the rest of us could go on. When we reached Turkey, it was another struggle to get back to the States, where my mother was a born citizen. And once we reached America, it became a struggle just to live. My mother managed to afford a basement in downtown Chicago, and worked hard to put herself through school while her sons learned to fend for themselves. By the age of nine I was fluent enough in the new language and culture to be left alone with my brother most of the time. I began to match my rhymes to the beats of America’s music of urban struggle, hip hop. There was a focus on wordplay that reminded me of the metaphors and double-meanings so cherished in Iranian poetry, and the realities of our existence in a basement residence made me identify with the lyrics. |
Quotesfrom Turaj’s last collaboration album, Bad Dreams “… poet-rapper Turaj spends a few weeks crafting haunting lyrics with local storyteller, Reaper. The Iranian-American rapper tackles topics Chingy wouldn’t dream of touching.” Bill Frost, City Weekly“Turaj’s most recent album “Bad Dreams” has sold out in record stores across Colorado, Oregon, and California, and it looks like it’s just the beginning. Recently, the unconventional rapper opened with a full live band for conscious hip hop legend Spearhead at Club Suede for the opening night of the Sundance Film Festival. Rumor has it that at the festival he was specially invited to tour with another conscious hip hop supergroup, Ozomatli.” Sarah Jackson, Daily Utah Chronicle, Park City Music Page“Known to enlist everything from violins to African percussion, both live and in the studio, Turaj doesn’t let any strict musical style limit his message.” Dan Fletcher, Melting Music Magazine“Sick of hearing the same ol’ contrived ‘hood stories from rappers?... Turaj and Reaper have two genuinely compelling tales that fuel some of the best hip hop I’ve heard. Catch Turaj while he’s here, because who knows where he’s going next.” Randy Harward, City Weekly“Turaj is a badass, and tells it like it is.” Annie Burbidge, Listen Magazine | ContactFor booking and questions, please contact: Kimberly via phone at: (415) 989-0230 |
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