Touraj Keshtkar ( fa, تورج کشتکار; born 26 May 1987), known professionally as Tooji, is a Norwegian singer, painter, model and television host. He represented

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and finished 26th (last) in the final. Beginning with his single "Cocktail", he also started using the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

characters () in his artistic identity.

Career

Tooji Keshtkar was born in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and moved to

when he was one year old. At the age of 16, he started modelling. Afterwards, he started working on

MTV Norway MTV Norway was a music and entertainment channel broadcasting to the Norwegian market. The channel replaced MTV Nordic on September 18, 2005, however on February 22, 2019 it was replaced by the return of MTV Nordic. History *MTV Norway launche ...

where he presented "Super Saturday" and "Tooji's Top 10". He was also educated as a social worker and has worked in asylum reception centres. He now works as a child protection consultant in the department of after-care. He won

Melodi Grand Prix 2012 Norway participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Norwegian entry was selected through Melodi Grand Prix 2012, a national selection consisting of three semi-finals and a final, organised by the Norwegian broadcaster ...

and was given the opportunity to represent Norway in the

with his entry "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

" which qualified from the second semi-final and went on to place 26th (last) in the final, scoring 7 points. On 10 March 2012, he presented the international jury votes on behalf of Norway at the finals of ''Melodifestivalen'' 2012, the Swedish preselection. On 18 May 2013 he presented the Norwegian votes for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EB ...

held in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Since 2012, Tooji presents, with

Margrethe Røed Margrethe Røed (born 10 December 1976) is a Norwegian television presenter on NRK Barne-Tv and Super Barne-TV on the television and radio channel NRK Super. In 2009, she took part in the TV programme ''Skal vi danse? ''Skal vi danse'' is th ...

, the

Melodi Grand Prix Junior Melodi Grand Prix Junior, also spelled as MGPjr, is a Norwegian television song competition for aspiring singers between the ages of 8 and 15. The competing songs are written by the participants themselves and are sung primarily in Norwegian, and ...

in Norway. In 2013, he released a single entitled "Rebels". Tooji himself describes ‘Rebels’ as “dramatic pop-dance, with new organic elements blended in with hard electronica“. He moved to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

to advance his sound. With the release of the song "Packin' Guns". He combines electronic elements with urban heavy and organic sound. Tooji uses irony to contrasts with a dark and heavy beat. With his education and background as a social worker, his songs often express a political and social message. Tooji's single "Cocktail" deals with the gender roles in today's society. The music video starts with a quotation from

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...

: "We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters". After coming out, he released his The Father project. Tooji's single and EP ''Father'' emanating from the project is about sexual relationships in the church and the hypocrisy in the public positions of the church. The music video for his following single "Say Yeah" tackles homophobic hate crimes.

Personal life

Tooji holds a bachelor's degree in child welfare. He has worked in asylum reception centres helping children and teenage refugees and victims of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

. This work motivated him to use his songs and profile to speak out for those who suffer in silence. Tooji is a supporter of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, as well as a supporter of Green Wave, Iran's democratic reform movement. Tooji wore a Free Iran green bracelet during his performance in the

held in

. In June 2015, Tooji came out as gay to the Norwegian website

Gaysir Gaysir is a Norwegian website, aimed mainly at gay, bisexual and trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former ...

, stating that he hoped he could make it easier for young gay people by being open about his own sexuality. He was praised for his decision by the Norwegian

National Association for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender People The Norwegian Organisation for Sexual and Gender Diversity (Norwegian: ''FRI – foreningen for kjønns- og seksualitetsmangfold'') is the oldest, largest and preeminent Norwegian member organization representing the interests of gay, lesbian, bi ...

The Father Project and single

His EP and single "Father" was part of his coming out process by tackling the difficult subject of sex and the church. He said "My new video "Father" is out, and so am I!". The music video is filmed inside an Oslo church and depicts Tooji, hooded and caped like a monk, interrupting an attractive priest in the middle of his sermon and kisses him passionately, after which the video cuts to the couple having gay sex in front of the altar, along with generally approving reactions of the congregation met with a lot of criticism.

Ole Christian Kvarme Ole Christian Mælen Kvarme (born November 11, 1948 in Molde) is a Norwegian bishop of the Church of Norway. He was bishop of Oslo in the Lutheran Church of Norway from 2005 and 2017. As Bishop of Oslo, Kvarme was the personal prelate of the Norw ...

, the Bishop of Oslo of the Lutheran

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

, condemned the video as "totally unacceptable" and "a gross misuse of the church", accusing the video's producers of misinforming the church's administration prior to filming about the video's actual contents.TheLocal.no: Tooji coming out video 'gross misuse of church'
/ref> Tooji said he lost his job as a host to ''Melodi Grand Prix Junior'', a version of Eurovision for younger performers as a result of the "Father" video and the Father Project. "The reason I was fired was that the music video was not consistent with being a role model for children," he said. ''The Father Project'' is an attack on organized religion's hypocrisy and willingness to persecute others for being different. Tooji called this project as "the most important thing I've done in my life".Wiwibloggs: Norway: Tooji comes out, releases new song “The Father Project”
/ref>

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

References

External links

Tooji's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tooji 1987 births Norwegian television presenters Living people Norwegian social workers English-language singers from Norway Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2012 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Norway People from Shiraz Naturalised citizens of Norway Iranian emigrants to Norway Gay singers Iranian LGBT people Norwegian LGBT musicians 21st-century Norwegian male singers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people