<\/p>\n
\u2018Do Kaftar\u201d (\u201cTwo Doves\u201d) is a sad love song that every Iranian child knows. Fun fact: if you look for it on YouTube, you will find the mournful ballad sung by men only. That is because women in Iran are forbidden to sing in public. The haunting words start (translated from Persian):<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo doves, by sorrow torn apart, took flight, Two lovers, cruelly severed, lost to sight, One sought solace in flames, a fiery nest, The other soared beyond, to realms divinely blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lyrics, penned by poet Qahar Asi, were released as a folk song by singer Farhad Darya in 1988. Asi was killed in 1994 in Kabul by a rocket during the Afghan Civil War.<\/p>\n
Israeli drag queen Nona Chalant teamed with exiled Iranian singer Jeanette R. Yehudaiyan and music producer Sailo (Lidor Saadia), a renowned deejay, to create a techno dance version of the song that they call \u201ca powerful call for peace, freedom, and the ultimate bridge between ancient culture and the modern world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 11 or 12 years old, a man I had seen around our neighborhood in Tehran<\/a> knocked on our door,\u201d recalled Yehudaiyan. \u201cHe told my mother that he was the director of the state radio\u2019s children\u2019s choir, and that he had heard me singing in the yard and thought I had a unique voice. He asked to have me join the children\u2019s choir to sing on Iranian radio.\u201d<\/p>\n Her father discouraged her from joining.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom that moment on, I realized that a girl like me had no place there,\u201d Yehudaiyan continued. \u201cI was a curious girl, eager for knowledge, and wanting more. For years, I fought to immigrate to Israel. It was a struggle against circumstances, against social conventions, and also against my own family.<\/p>\n \u201cFinally, when I was 15, my father agreed to sign my release through the Youth Aliyah, on the condition that I be educated in a religious institution.<\/p>\n \u201cThe separation was difficult. I left behind not only a family, but also a language, landscapes, smells, and sounds. Perhaps that is why, when I arrived in Israel, I locked away inside myself everything that reminded me of the home I had left. I stopped speaking Persian, I stopped listening to Persian music<\/a>, and I stopped singing.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly many years later did I realize that you cannot truly separate from your roots. The voice I had tried to silence waited patiently, and when it returned, it brought back with it not only the music, but also parts of myself that I had left behind,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n Finding Her Voice<\/p>\n Yehudaiyan, who fled from Iran without her parents at age 15, said the message is very close to her heart. She was 30 when her parents were finally released from Iran and allowed to go to Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a girl in Iran, I wasn\u2019t just fighting for the right to sing,\u201d Yehudaiyan explained. \u201cI was fighting for the right to be who I am. That is why I feel there is a profound connection between that little girl who heard the door close in the face of the conductor who came to bring her to the choir, and the woman who believes today that every single person deserves a space where their voice can be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I watched the students and young people in Iran taking to the streets to make their voices heard, I felt a deep connection to them \u2013 not from a political standpoint, but from a recognition of the value of human freedom,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Nona Chalant, also known as Ronny Chokron, one of Israel\u2019s leading and most established drag artists with a 15-year career on stage, performs on weekends and is a kindergarten teacher<\/a> by day. He said Jeanette\u2019s story and the song touched him deeply.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Jeanette sings it in the traditional Persian genre of singing, it is about a captured couple of doves \u2013 forbidden love and freedom and love without boundaries,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a vision that this could fuel a revolution, the song being so part of the culture.<\/p>\n \u201cAdd to that a Persian\/Israeli woman singer, and me as a drag queen, with the message of no boundaries \u2013 it is the very resurrection of freedom. We know who we are and we know we are always changing. We take a familiar traditional and beautiful song to remind the listener that new times can still reflect tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n Chokron said that Iran has a robust underground nightlife, and he thinks the song, with its rhythmic beat and Persian lyrics, female and drag queen collaboration will be a tremendous success \u2013 as well as a supportive boost to the Iranians who dare to dance.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I\u2019m right, I think it will get to the underground nightlife there. In the underground scene, they can listen to women singing and they can dance. The intention is to encourage them that we know there is a world there \u2013 waiting to emerge, and this revolution is happening. We see you, and we support you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Today in Iran, solo public singing by women is effectively illegal and heavily policed. Many Iranian women defy this through underground performances or online sharing, often at personal risk.<\/p>\n Female singer Hiwa Seyfizade was arrested mid-performance in Tehran in 2025, while others faced detention after viral videos (e.g., Zara Esmaili, Parastoo Ahmadi) and Instagram accounts of female singers are regularly shut down.<\/p>\n Music producer Lidor Saadia (Sailo) worked with the singers to put together a mesmerizing club track that seamlessly blends ancient cultural roots with a fresh, driving electronic sound. Sailo is known for creating much of the music in the club scene, working with stars like Dana International, Rita, Deborah Cox, and Sarit Hadad. Chokron started as a fan and was very excited about this, their first collaboration.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, there is something magical and unifying about nightlife,\u201d explained Nona Chalant\/Ronny Chokron. \u201cThe dance floor is a sanctuary where people let everything go and seek pure joy. At nightclubs, people come to free themselves. They want to be happy. Like in the kindergarten class \u2013 they come to play and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n The beat goes on…<\/p>\n As the song rolls out, the hope is that it goes viral and finds its way to the people who desperately need to hear the message.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just released the song for deejays without telling the story yet,\u201d continued Chokron. \u201cWe reached out to deejays and influencers in Iran. We are hoping to get a video to them. We aren\u2019t alone in our efforts. There are other people also who are working to free them.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m a nightlife person, I know the nightlife is there. We need the music to set them free \u2013 for the women who want to sing, or the gay clubber in the closet who is at a party, underground. This song will open something in their heart. Now is the time to spill out freedom and get rid of the \u2018war, war, war\u2019 mantra,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I hear Jeanette singing, I feel that the Iranian people are our soul cousins. This is our way in,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Fortunately, Yehudaiyan was able to reclaim her talent after her husband\u2019s work took her to West Africa, where her connection to music rekindled, and she suddenly began to sing.<\/p>\n \u201cWith tears streaming down my face relentlessly, I felt that a deep part of me had been waiting all those years to return home,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhen I returned to Israel, I already had a profession, academic degrees, and a job at Hadassah Ein Kerem, but I knew I had to give this voice a place too. I decided that I wanted to sing.\u201d<\/p>\n This song, she said, has special meaning to her.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me,\u201d she explained, \u201c\u2018We Were a Pair of Doves\u2019 (\u201cZug Yonim Hayinu\u201d) is much more than a love song. It is a song about captivity, loss, and longing, but also about the inner freedom of the spirit. One can hear in it the story of two lovers who were separated, but it can also be seen as a metaphor for exile, displacement, and the yearning for a lost home. Perhaps that is why the song continues to move people even today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I recorded it, I thought of everyone who has ever been forced to part from a place, a person, or a life they once knew. For me, it is a song that reminds us that even after separation and heartbreak, the memory, the love, and the inner voice continue to live on inside us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I no longer have any family members or acquaintances left in Iran<\/a>. However, despite the distance and time, Iran continues to live within me through the language, the memories, the culture, and above all, through the music,\u201d she concluded. \u25a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/727042.jpeg\"\/)
A YOUNG, RELIGIOUS audience in Tel Aviv. (credit: COURTESY NONA CHALANT)<\/p>\n