Amir Tataloo

Amirhossein Maghsoudloo () better known by his stage name Amir Tataloo (), is an Iranian singer-songwriter. Tataloo is one of the first generation of Iranian Underground Hip hop scene.
His debut album, Zire Hamkaf, was released in 2011 without releasing license from Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and ever since he has release 11 more albums. Tataloo has been arrested several times during the time he was residing in Iran by the Islamic Republic authorities. His first arrest was in 2013 by the Iranian security police. He in 2015 was also arrested and kept in prison for two month charged with "encouraging "fasad" and "fahsha"".
Tataloo has been center of various controversies throughout his career, including his views on Mourning of Muharram, Dhabihah, Hijab, and also his support for political parties in their presidential campaigns. During the 2009 elections he supported Mirhossein Mousavi and in 2017 he supported Ebrahim Raisi. There also were various allegations which brought up by activists in social medias such as Instagram which resulted in suspension of his account which had over 4 millions followers.Tataloo had an active personal Instagram account which was one of the most followed Iranian accounts there, but Instagram has suspended his accounts twice due to reports made by activists to Instagram, and it was a permanent ban for Tataloo in 2020.
Early life.
Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, Stage name Amir Tataloo born September 21, 1987 in Majidieh, Tehran. Regarding to his father's job situation, Amir passed his elementary school years in Rasht, but after a few years he moved to Tehran again and because of his family financial situation he decided to work and study at the same time. From 14 to 16 he was working in a carpenter workshop and then he continued working in a grocery store from 16 to 18. After finishing high school he started following his love of life which was music. The beginning of his art activities was simultaneous with other premiers in Persian Underground music like Pishro, Tohi, Eblis.
Music career.
Tataloo started his music career in 2003, releasing them on his personal blog. He initially started as an underground musician and remains unauthorized by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, was described by "Time" magazine as "a rapper with so many fans" and by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as an artist with a "strong fan base" among the youth in Iran. His music style has been described as "popular flashy blend of pop, rap and R&B".
He released a single, Manam Yeki az un Yazdahtam (I'm also one of those eleven players), for Iranian National Football Team during 2014 FIFA World Cup.
During the Iran/5+1 nuclear talks in Vienna, in July 2015, he released a song supporting the Iranian nuclear program. The music video was produced on the Iranian navy ship "Damavand". The song became the top trend in Google search in Persian. This song became an instant controversy in Iran, mostly the Iranian Reformists, who compared the song to Mohammadreza Shajarian's songs in support of Iranian protests in 2009.
Tataloo's Instagram account, one of the most popular among Iranians, was permanently closed on 24 April 2020 due to allegations of grooming underage girls.
In 2015 he attended the Tehran Peace Museum praised by the Iran-Iraq war veterans for his music video, Shohada (The Martyrs), and was introduced as the peace ambassador of the museum.
In 2018, after several arrests by the Iranian authorities and failing to get a music activity license from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Tataloo left Iran and immigrated to Turkey, which currently is residing.
Tatality.
Tatality was name of the Tataloo's 2013 album which also is the name of his fan base. Tatalities are mostly consist of Iranian youth who are dedicated to Tataloo. Tatalities have a lifestyle inspired by Tataloo, including meditation, spiritual routines and vegan diet.
In 2016 after getting arrested by Iranian authorities' police, Tatalities protested before the Justice Court and demanded Iranian authorities to release Tataloo from prison. Also as active as they are on social media, after arresting Tataloo there was a big online protest against arresting an artist that is charged for his songwriting and lifestyle. They used various hashtags in order to pressure Iranian authorities to release their demigod figure.
In a bold move, after arresting Tataloo, Tatalities protested to the official account of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, asking to give the Tataloo's release order.
Social Media.
Tataloo is one of the most popular yet controversial Iranian celebrities, and he has got big fan base as well as critics.
In 2018 Tataloo's Instagram account was suspended due to reports on sexist comments. At the time his Instagram account was being followed by more than 4 million people. He later started another account and continued his activity online.
In 2020 Tataloo's account once again was suspended, while he gained 4.4 millions follower after creating the new account. The reason this time was talking about underage marriage in his Instagram stories which interpreted as him being a pedophile, joking about 15 to 20 years old girls joing him on his Harem. Though he never accepted that and kept saying it was just a joke, many women's right activists and Hichkas (his malicious) were among those who reported the Tataloo's page and asked people not to follow him because following him is encouraging child abuse. Avang Music finished their deal with Tataloo afterwards. In response to this event, Tataloo release a single track, Haramsara, which he discussed the issue through the song.
In 2019 Tataloo asked Tatalities to break the most commented post on Instagram record which was 10 million comments, and Tatalities faithful to their hero, broke the record with 18 million comments. After this various political critics discussed the phenomenon and it's impact on society, people such as Sadegh Zibakalam and Emaddedin Baghi wrote papers on it.
Another record was in 2020 where Tataloo and Neda Yasi, an Instagram influencer and figure, went live that ended up with 626,000 viewers on that live broadcast.
- One of the most important admin's of Amir Tataloo is Saman Minika
Personal life.
Tataloo is vegan, and is constantly preaching the vegan philosophy and lifestyle ask his fans not to kill and eat animals. One of his many nicknames is Nature's Son.
Arrests.
Tataloo has been arrested various time while he was in Iran. He was arrested for the first time in 2013, which he was charged for making music known as Underground Hip Hop, without any release licenses from Iran's officials.
Tataloo was jailed three times in 2013, 2016, and 2020. Iranian morality police briefly arrested him in December 2013 for distributing his banned music to illegal foreign satellite channels. He was arrested again on 23 August 2016 and spent two months in prison because of insulting the judge in the court hearing, however, he was reportedly charged with "encouraging "fasad" and "fahsha"". His fans posted comments on social media accounts of the supreme leader of Iran, demanding his release.
On 28 January 2020, Tataloo was preparing to travel to the UK, where he was expected to play a concert in February. Tataloo whose real name is 'Amirhossein Maghsoudloo', was detained by Turkish authorities in Istanbul after he was flagged as a wanted person by Interpol. Turkish authorities stated that they have acted on an "Interpol red notice" which was apparently issued by Iranian authorities – Iranian police have accused Tataloo of "encouraging citizens, especially the youth, to use drugs", according to a statement quoted by Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency.
Following his arrest in Turkey there were concerns about deportation of Tataloo to Iran. Tatalities and other people concerned about Tataloo's life started online campaigns in order to stop Turkish government giving Tataloo to Iranian authorities. After clearing the charges, it was stated that he was arrested due to Visa violation. After a week in prison Tataloo was released and thanked people helping him, Masih Alinejad, Hichkas, Pishro, Pouyan Mokhtari, Montiego, his fans and the Turkish government.
Politics.
During the 2009 Iranian presidential election Tataloo supported the Iranian Reformists candidate, Mirhossein Mousavi.
Tataloo formerly criticized the establishment for not licensing his music, which is deemed as "Western, non-Iranian and immoral" by the government, although he kept distance from politics.
In 2015, he made a shift towards Iran's conservative agenda, pledging his support for the supreme leader of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on numerous occasions, as well as advocating mandatory "hijab".
In 2017, Tataloo briefly shifted to a conservative stance, encouraging his fans who call themselves "Tatality", to vote for hardliners in 2017's presidential election. Tataloo left Iran in 2018 for Turkey. In January 2020 he was arrested and later released by the Turkish police following a drug-related Interpol request from Tehran.
In 2017, Tataloo initially endorsed Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf for the Iranian presidential election. Following Ghalibaf's drop-out, Tataloo sided with Ebrahim Raisi and publicly met him.
Controversies.
"Nuclear Energy" Song.
During the Iran/5+1 nuclear talks in Vienna, in July 2015, he released a song supporting the Iranian nuclear program. The music video was produced on the Iranian navy ship "Damavand".
Titled "Energy Hasteei" (انرژی هسته ای), the song's central message was to uphold Iran's right to patrol the Persian Gulf and to produce peaceful nuclear energy. Tataloo's nationalistic song caused controversy among his Iranian fans who respected the artist for his frank, unconformative political and social statements and were surprised to see him appearing to assist the government in their messaging around the nuclear issue.
Allegations of child grooming and sexual abuse.
On 24 April 2020, Tataloo's Instagram account was shut down because he called for girls 15 to 20 years of age to join his "harem" and engage in sexual activity with him. Tataloo deleted these posts a few hours after publication, but screenshots of his posts were taken and sent to women's rights organizations, journalists, and lawyers, who argued that Tataloo's actions equated to child abuse. Tataloo proceeded to make another account, which was also shut down.