Googoosh

Tell me this isn't beguiling.

Anybody raised in the Middle East will certainly be aware of Googoosh, but (to our great discredit), to a western ear, it may be foreign. The Iranian pop singer and actress is a national treasure over in Iran and mayhaps the country's finest singer of all time.

In the 1960s and 70s, Googoosh was considered the most celebrated recording artist in Iran and much of the Middle East. In addition to music, Googoosh was also an actress in many Persian films of the 1960s and 1970s. She is more widely known as a singer than as an actress. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, she is famously known for remaining in Iran until 2000 and not performing again due to the ban on female singers. Still, her following grew. Younger people have rediscovered her music via bootleg recordings. Outside of Iran, she has a significant following in many Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, and has even caught the attention of western media and press.. Googoosh is rumored to reside in an estimated $16 million valued estate near Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, and continues her career, albeit in a limited manner.

“I have come here to be the voice for the sad mothers who lost their loved ones in peaceful demonstrations,” said the singer. “I have come here to be the just voice of the grass-roots and spontaneous movement among my compatriots and to show my solidarity.” Source New York Times.com