Diaspora Arts Connection marks 10 years of Let Her Sing with California concerts and film program

Diaspora Arts Connection is marking the 10th anniversary of Let Her Sing® with concerts in San Francisco and San Diego and a San Francisco film program centered on women’s voices and artistic freedom. The milestone lands as an Iranian appeals court upheld punishment against singer Parastoo Ahmadi, underscoring the event’s focus on censorship and the right to sing.

Why it matters: - Let Her Sing® is framed as both a celebration and a protest, with the 10th anniversary arriving as women’s freedom to sing remains restricted in parts of the world. - The program connects live performances in California to ongoing censorship cases in Iran and Afghanistan, giving the concerts immediate political and cultural weight. - The anniversary also spotlights women artists across Persian, Arab-Iranian, Assyrian, and diasporic traditions, reinforcing the idea that no single female voice defines the category.

What happened: - Diaspora Arts Connection is marking 10 years of Let Her Sing®: A Celebration of Female Voices with anniversary concerts in San Francisco and San Diego and a film program in San Francisco. - The San Francisco concert is scheduled for Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 7:00 PM at the Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. - The San Diego-area concert is scheduled for Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 7:00 PM at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. - The San Francisco film program is scheduled for Sunday, October 11, 2026, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. - Diaspora Arts Connection is presenting the film program with Farcinema.

The details: - The 2026 featured vocalists are Mina Deris, Mehrnam Rastegari, Marjan Farsad, Gelareh Sheibani, Eilbret Dooman, and Roxana Sarrafi. - Their repertoire spans Persian classical and folk music, Arab-Iranian and Assyrian musical heritage, contemporary songwriting, and diasporic artistic expression. - Golrokh Aminian, an Iranian-Canadian soprano and singer-songwriter, will host the concerts. - Yahya Alkhansa is leading the production as Music Director and drummer. - Navid Ghaem Maghami is the Artistic Director, and Shayan Ravandoust is Director of Operations. - The Let Her Sing® House Band includes Safa Shokrai on upright bass, Yahya Alkhansa on drums, Mohammad Shabani on percussion, Sara Saberi on oud, Nima Hafezieh on piano, Mohamad Talani on guitar, and Shervin Najafian on guitar. - The film program includes No Land’s Song, directed by Ayat Najafi; A Sister’s Tale, directed by Leila Amini; and Sonita, directed by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami. - No Land’s Song follows Iranian composer Sara Najafi as she tries to organize a public concert in Tehran featuring women singing solo. - A Sister’s Tale follows Nasreen as she tries to reclaim her dream of becoming a singer while navigating family life and restrictions on women performing publicly in Iran. - Sonita follows a young Afghan refugee in Tehran who dreams of becoming a rapper while facing forced marriage and limits on artistic expression. - The screening of Sonita will be followed by a Q&A and panel discussion with Yara Daneshvar and Gelareh Sheibani. - The film program is presented in partnership with Farcinema, a Bay Area independent film-curation initiative run by Hanieh Khaleghian and Mohsen Hejrati. - Information and tickets are available through Diaspora Arts Connection’s Let Her Sing 2026 page, the San Diego event page, and the screening page.

Between the lines: - The anniversary is being cast against the late-September appeals-court ruling in Iran that upheld punishment against singer Parastoo Ahmadi for a December 2024 online concert in which she sang solo without the mandatory hijab. - Ahmadi’s sentence includes 74 lashes, a two-year travel ban, and a two-year ban on artistic and audiovisual activity. - Nazy Kaviani, founder and executive director of Diaspora Arts Connection, said the program began with the simple belief that a woman should have the right to sing. - Kaviani said the contrast between California stages and restrictions on women in Iran and Afghanistan is painful, but also a reason the work continues. - The organization is using the 10-year mark to tie artistic freedom to lived experience, rather than treating the concerts as a standard anniversary showcase.

What’s next: - The anniversary sequence begins with the film program on October 11 in San Francisco. - The San Francisco concert follows on October 17, with the San Diego-area concert on October 24. - Diaspora Arts Connection says Let Her Sing® is entering its second decade as a platform for women’s artistic freedom, cultural memory, resilience, and public performance. - Kaviani said the goal is to keep space open for women to speak and sing for themselves.

The bottom line: - Let Her Sing® is marking 10 years not just with music, but with a pointed reminder that the freedom for women to sing publicly remains contested far beyond California.