In January 2010, NPR will launch a year-long exploration of 50 great voices in recorded history. The series isn’t an attempt to catalog the so-called “greatest” singers. Instead, we hope to discover and re-discover awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time. We asked you to nominate artists for the series and we received thousands of options. NPR and a panel of experts are in the process of whittling them down to about 100 singers — a mix of familiar names and surprising discoveries. Explore some of the nominated voices below, choose five favorites you think should be included in the final 50 and tell us why.
Shajarian has indicated support for Iranians protesting against the 12 June 2009 Iranian presidential election results. When Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the protesters as “dust and trash”, Shajarian told a BBC BBC Persian channel telephone interviewer that he (Shajarian) considered himself the voice of dust and trash: “It is the voice of dust and trash and it will always remain the voice of dust and trash.” He also asked IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) to stop broadcasting his songs. He mentioned that his famous song “Iran, Ey Saraye Omid” (Iran, the land of Hope), has no relation with the current situation of his country.
Lyrics of his song “Language of Fire,” issued in September 2009, — “Lay down your gun, Come, sit down, talk, hear. Perhaps the light of humanity will get through to your heart too” — are thought by some observers to speak “directly to the plainclothes Basiji militiamen and security forces” who beat protesters during recent unrest.[4]
