For A New Album, An Iranian Artist Faces Jail Time.

He has spent two years in prison - including solitary confinement and a hunger strike - for posting songs that were not approved by Iranian authorities. But he wasn't worried.

So he worked undercover from the basement of his home in Sari, northern Iran, to make a new album. It's called Coup Of The Gods. It includes a Brazilian orchestra, musicians from Turkey, Russia, India, Argentina, and two singers from the United States, Lizzy O'Very and Aubrey Johnson.

These voices bring Rajabian songs to life with heartbreak and struggle. But they also make bold political statements - because singers are banned in Iran. When Rajabian declare his intention to work with the musician last year, he was arrested and put on trial, during which a judge told him he was "promoting prostitution." After he was free on bail.

The Rajabian trial began in 2013 when the Islamic Revolutionary Guards raided his office, closed his recording studio, and confiscated his hard drives. At the time, she ran a record company that advocated for female musicians and worked on Setar's The Story of Iran Told, which she described as "absurd" during the Iran-Iraq war.

He has been accused of "spreading underground music, including many whose texts and messages are deemed offensive to Iranian authorities or state religion." Rajabian said he spent 90 days in solitary confinement, blindfolded and oblivious to his surroundings.

He was eventually released on bail but was arrested again in 2015 with his brother, director Hossein Rajabian, and sentenced to six years in prison after a three-minute trial. The brothers went on a hunger strike for 40 days to protest. Rajabian said he lost 15 kg and was vomiting blood.

It is dark and captivating; it builds from cello staccato lines to an almost ethereal wave of strings and sound. The hunger strike also made Rajabian suffer from joint swelling, which made him unable to play independently.

Instead, he records his songs and sends them out to famous musicians around the world. Where he carefully composed his songs, battling a slow internet connection and being released by Iranian authorities. The process is long and complex. Rajabian said he spoke to the Brazilian orchestra "a few more hours" to explain the feelings he was trying to convey.