Friday, December 17, 2010
Publish date: October 13 • Printable version    

Iranian diva, Marzieh, loses battle to cancer at 85


Marzieh

Legendary Iranian singer, Ashraf-o-Sadat Mortezai known as Marzieh, passed away in Paris at the age of 85.

The octogenarian, who had lost her daughter to cancer last March, lost her own battle to cancer today.

Marzieh was the first female singer to perform in Radio Iran’s Golha-ye-Rangarang program in 1946. After the Islamic Revolution, she stayed in Iran for over 16 years away from the stage.

In the 1990s, she left Iran and made her residence in France joining the National Council of Resistance, an organization led by Massoud Rajavi, prominent anti-Islamic Republic leader.

The National Council of Resistance with 540 members claims to hold a parliament in exile with the aim of toppling the Islamic Republic government of Iran and the establishment of a secular democratic coalition government in Iran.

In Persian Wikipedia, Marzieh is quoted as saying: “When Iranian families rarely sent their daughters in pursuit of education, my father, despite belonging to the clergy, encouraged me to pursue contemporary education. When I started to sing, becoming a singer for women was out if the ordinary and at the same time, a singer had to have academic education as well as knowledge of classical music, in addition to a good voice. Furthermore, a number of music masters had to approve of her singing techniques and we had to be well-acquainted with musical theory. I spent many years studying under the supervision of several top masters before beginning my singing career.”

Wikipedia writes: “Marzieh entered the music arena in 1934. She appeared on stage as Shirin in Shirin and Farhad which was repeated for 37 nights bringing her immediate success and initiating her immense and lasting popularity with the public.”

Your comment

(your comment will be published after review by the moderator. )


Name:

(Your e-mail address will not be published anywhere and will not be used for any other purpose)