Bānu Khorramdin - Epic Iranian Music

Music by Farya Faraji, vocals by Kelareh Kabiri, artwork by Hojat Shakiba. Bānu Khorramdin was a late 9th century Iranian revolutionary, who, along with her husband Bābak, led a revolution against the Abbasid Caliphate. Their revolution was not only political in nature, but cultural--it called for a return of Iranian pre-Islamic culture and rule against the foreign Islamic occupation brought by the Arabs. Calling themselves Khorram-Dīnân, "those of the joyous religion", their beliefs were an offshoot of Zoroastrianism and the teachings of Mazdak, a Zoroastrian priest of the Sasanian era. Their movement, which lasted 20 years, showed the continued persistence and presence of pre-Islamic, native Iranian customs and cultures within the land, and Bānu's central role as a leader and fighter within the movement harkens back to the well documented presence of women in Iranian armies of Antiquity, from Artemisia to Pantea Arteshbod, Apranik and many others.

Bānu and her husband oriignated from Azerbaijan, back then a culturally Iranian land before it was linguistically Turkified starting from the 11th century and the arrival of Seljuk rule. They were not Persians, but rather Adharis, a closely related Iranic people who spoke the Adhari language, which was the dominant, native language of the region; an Iranic language related to other Iranic languages such as Persian, Kurdish, Mazandarani, etc. The lyrics in the video are in the Adhari language, and are extracted from a Ghazal by Homam Tabrizi.

Lyrics in Adhari:
وهار و ول و دیم یار خوش بی // اوی یاران مه ول بی مه وهاران

Romanised lyrics:
Wahar o wol o
Dim yaar khwash
Bi Awi Yaaraan,
Mah wul,
Bi Mah Wahaaraan

English translation:
The Spring and Flowers and the face of the friend are all pleasant,
But without the friend, there are no flowers or spring.