A front called life

This is the story of a boy who wants to go to war at the age of 13 and is sent to Germany instead.  Omid Pouryousefi remembers the year 1986. „I wanted to be at the front.“ His home country Iran is at war with its neighbour Iraq. In school, the children are sworn to the conflict. The boys are drafted to the army at the age of 14.

Omid can hardly wait and counts the days until his birthday. Just one month, and he could go. But suddenly his dad puts an end to this hope and sends the young spitfire and two brothers to Germany, into another world. „I still remember the girls cutting off our shoelaces at carnival which was meant to be a joke (which we didn’t understand then). The next day, we cut off their hair – so you can see how difficult integration really is..“

Omid Pouryousefi (c) Michael Blatt

December 2011: Pouryousefi sits in his sound studion in Bochum-Wattenscheid. He is director of X-Vision Ruhr and leads this project from the youth house which is owned by the SPD youth organisation Die Falken. As a part of the Capital of Culture project „next generation”,  young people with a multi-national background have formed a music and dance collective.

Omid is, even if he doesn’t like to hear that, something similar to a host, for many of the youngsters, he is almost a father figure. His mischievous smile tells that he cannot really understand himself how he has become a down-to-earth music producer and a member of of the SPD with a seat in the municipal integration committee. The answer “Hope wins” would be too easy, though. Look for the answer IN “Hope Wins” instead, the autobiography of Pouryousefi which has been published at the beginning of this month.

The funeral of his childhood

The story starts in Omid’s home village of Kerman, a desert town in the South-West of Iraq. „Totally peaceful people who didn’t see a lot of the war.“ An alleged idyll – until, at he age of nine years, he sees two hanging corpses which puts a sudden end to his childhood. After his graduation from school in Germany he lives a jet-set life, travelling the world as a DJ - until at one day, when he finds out that that kind of life is empty and meaningless. „After 9/11, I became very thoughtful.“

(c) Jeean Photography

2004, his brother Ali marries in Iran, and Omid returns to his home country for the first time after 19 years. „That was a shock!“ Sounds and smells revived numerous, almost forgotten memories. That trip has changed the bonvivant, he starts reading a lot, collects information on his home country, its history and present. In the following years he returns to Iran twice, stays three weeks in the capital Teheran, and forges a plan. 2006, Omid, his brother Amin, and school friend Snake establish the project „Tapesh 2012“. Their aim: to perform in Iran.

The trio has a lot of success in Germany, wins the NRW-Creole-Weltmusikpreis. „That really pushed us forward.“ After a meeting in Cologne, Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi joins the trio. Their songs are spread via the internet. They collect 10.000 signatures for a petition with the objectives „No to Mullahcracy, No to war against Iran, No to crimes against human rights, Yes to democracy.“ – „That made the Iranian government very angry.“ Iranian TV stations in exile run trailers with Tapesh-Songs à la „Wir sind keine Männer“ (we are no men) as background music.

Enemy of the Islam              

In other countries this may have been criticised as provocation, rebuked, and then forgotten, but it leads to drastic measures in a country like Iran. Omid is classified as enemy of the state. The accusation: he was a communist, an enemy of the Islam, and a danger for the youth and students. In case he should travel to Iran he will be arrested and possibly face the danger of the death penalty. For long-time companion Snake, things get too dangerous: he quits Tapesh.

(c) Michael Blatt

Omid carries on, rooting for the green revolution movement 2009. „I’m an artist, but was drawn more and more into politics“, he describes that time when people even suggest that he might as well establish his own party. But Pouryousefi doesn’t choose this path, doesn’t consider himself to be a saviour: "„Tapesh 2012“ was no prophecy, but a personal wish.“

Instead, he gets into contact with the Lektora Verlag via the German author Sebastian 23 and writes down the sotory of his life with co-author Stefanie Grawunder. In the end, the wish is still open  – „Tapesh 2012“. What does he currently think about the chances of a performance in his home country in the next year? Omid gets thoughful, takes his time for an answer: „It is paradox, but I’m convinced that the current government in Iran still is advantageous for the world.“ As long as this is the case, he doesn’t see many chances for a revolution even if the government is not backed by the population.

Teaser photo: Jeean Photography