Singer Mohsen Chavoshi selected as artist of the year

The 12th edition of the Islamic Revolution Art Week has named popular Iranian singer and composer Mohsen Chavoshi as the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year for 1404 (2025-2026).

A number of cultural officials, including head of Iran's Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Qomi and Head of the Art Bureau Mohammad-Mehdi Dadman attended the closing ceremony of the event at Tehran’s Valiasr Square on Thursday evening.

The event served as a major cultural gathering for artists, officials, and citizens.

Chavoshi received the prestigious title mainly for his acclaimed tracks ‘Alaj’ and ‘Hasbi Allah’, which have resonated deeply with the public during the period of the US-Israeli war imposed on the country.

He was selected from a shortlist that included notable figures such as painter and journalist Seyyed Ali Mirfattah, filmmaker Sirous Moqaddam, and theater director Maryam Shabani.

During the announcement, host Najmeddin Shariati emphasized the grassroots nature of the selection, noting that the crowd had been chanting Chavoshi’s name throughout the evening.

The program featured some street performances and paid tribute to the Martyr Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, through music and media packages centered on the themes of martyrdom and resistance.

A particularly moving moment occurred when children and teenagers in the audience raised placards inscribed with lyrics from Chavoshi’s ‘Hasbi Allah’ and ‘Alaj’.

The ceremony concluded with a mass sing-along of ‘Alaj’, as thousands of citizens joined their voices in a display of national unity.

The art week is organized by the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization every year to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of documentarian Morteza Avini.

Art exhibitions and workshops, and theatrical musical performances are organized during this week.

Avini was martyred by a landmine in 1993 during his last trip to the former Iraq-Iran war zone in southwest of Iran while making the documentary ‘A City in the Sky’ about the fall of Khorramshahr and the liberation of the southwestern Iranian city during the Iraq-Iran war.

He became famous for ‘The Narration of Triumph’ and was called “the master of martyred writers” by his colleagues and war veterans due to the fervent narrations he wrote for his documentaries.