One story of Ra’na’s goes back to the time of Mirza Koochak khaan e Jangali. One of his lieutenants, Kord Agha Jaan, kidnaps the beautiful Ra’na from her village and she ends up falling in love with him. A year later Kord Agha Jaan falls off his horse while crossing a river and drowns. Ra’na is ashamed to go back to her village as she is now a roo siaah (object of scandal). The singer is a man from her village who was heartbroken when R’ana eloped with Kord Agha Jaan. Now he has heard that she is sick and is calling for her to come back.
True story or not, the common attribution of this song to that period in our history is a reference to the Soviet Republic of Gilan established by Mirza Koochak Khan (1920-1921) only to be defeated a year later. Listening to Ra’na we hear a forgiving and loving nation calling Gilan back to the fold–bargard biaa, Ra’na.
Above is the Iranian group Rastak performing this song. The group tours all over Iran collecting, studying, and performing authentic local music. They take great pains to make sure authentic dialect and local accents are preserved in the songs.Here’s a youtube link to the above video just in case. See lyrics and received Farsi translation in comment below.
