Singing Semi-Sufi Songs on the Subway

A burst of beauty in an increasingly profane world.

Last week a video of a man singing a Persian poem on the Tehran subway went semi-viral on Twitter. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen below:

To date I have not come across a translation, so I thought I’d offer my own rendition (special thanks to Ustad Peyman Eshaghi for helping with the translation):

My beloved is clad in a thin garment,
asleep beneath a rose
I fear the rose’s scent will sober her up
from her drunken state


For my beloved I sewed a garment
from the flower’s petals
I fear the garment will hurt her
for she is delicate


Oh sun! Tread softly in the
Sanctuary of my beloved
I fear your steps will wake
her from her slumber

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To be completely honest, watching the video multiple times and translating the lyrics brought about sadness because moments like this are so rare: where one can close their eyes and bathe in the pleasure of lyrics — and a voice untainted by autotune — that call to mind a more pure, innocent love. The lyrics do not objectify women, nor are they unnecessarily promiscuous. There are no scantily clad women grinding and twerking and doing whatever else is popular in music videos. It is just a man, his voice, and lyrics. You can even see the elderly men slowly begin to crowd around him to bask in his voice, offering their silent but stern old-school approval.

Such a scene, though, is thankfully more common in Persian speaking societies, where classical poetry and Sufi motifs still command a strong presence in modern music and lyric making. In a world that has all but embraced the profane, the video above stands as an example of what is possible when music is infused with tradition.

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I thought long and hard of an inspirational take-away, but there is nothing more that needs to be said than this: craft beauty wherever you go.

If you enjoyed the above, here is another example of the fusion between classical Persian poetry and modern music: Ostad Mohammad-Reza Shajarian’s stunning rendition of a poem by Hafez known as ‘Gham Makhur.’