Temple Of Hope by Saba Alizadeh

Every revolution needs a soundtrack, and the pensive, dramatic ambient music of Temple of Hope by Saba Alizadeh provides such a retrospective backdrop for the women’s rights movement in Iran. For a brief moment in 2022, widespread unrest threatened to reshape the balance of power in Iran, as the Woman, Life, Freedom movement mobilized against the government’s harsh treatment of women with minor morality crime convictions. Of course, no regime change would come to pass, and the sounds of Temple of Hope reflect this simultaneous recognition of civilian power and acknowledgement of the long road ahead towards change. Traditional instruments twist into fuzzy, noisy drones, weaving in and out of hopeful harmonies as an enormous monster looms in the bass frequencies. The music treads the line that demonstrators must now navigate; while their valiant show of force has clearly impressed their government and the world, they must now choose between peaceful, gradual action or the type of devastating revolution that could bring justice to the oppressor overnight.