Letters

July 21, 2004Top

* Why I admire Googoosh

Dear Ms. Nemati, [Iranian diva]

I read your article and felt sorry for you but for me Googoosh has always been the best possible role model. She actually did get a divorce from her abusive husband(s). And although she was betrayed by friend and enemy she always got back on her feet and started singing.

I think a person like Googoosh who can communicate with millions of people including your teenager son (who may has never seen Iran), is a respected lady. She never disappointed me either as an artist or as a woman. To me she is a woman who never takes advantage of her popularity to guide people, because she knows perfectly well she may make big mistakes and misguide her fans.

Remember when she humble said that , "I do not have much political literacy" in Toronto. This is the capacity many others do not have and the moment they sing a new song they feel like God and start attcking others. You can see them in the garbage satellite TVs broadcasting from LA. Just show me one single achivement for women's rights that other female Iranian artists has had. There in not such a thing.

There are many things about her that I admire.

- Googoosh is the very best performer and singer that country has ever had. I think there is no doubt about that. Who can preserve her voice and sanity after 21 years of silence and virtual house arrest.

- Googoosh has always been a free person. Never paying attention to people who have power and attack her from their tribunes. And she never replies. She never lowers her dignity to answer trashy tvs and newspapers who are looking for more audience.

- Googoosh never betrayed her fans. Please remember in the year 1979 Iranians decided to have a revolution and put an end to her career. The guys who closed the prison gate behind her were all her compartriots. But she knew she is still in her fans' hearts and got back to the stage to sing for them at the first possible moment.

- It was Googoosh who back in the 70s showed us a woman in Iran lives under the dictatorship of her father and husband. Her life story in the magazines of those days brought it to our homes and made us feel it.

- And finally it was Googoosh who showed us Iranian women are just like fire under ashes. They may get rotten under fundamentalism and prejudice for 21 years but one day they will shine again.

Dear Ms. Nemati,

I am sorry if you have witnessed injustices against women in your lifetime like me and Googoosh and many others, but nobody is responsible for those injustices but Iranian women. It is our fault if we do not have proper answers for our problems. Or we do not want to make a small committment to free ourselves from our plight. I think Googoosh has done much more than her share of a responsibilty, both as a woman and as an artist. Just listen to her new songs when  she says

BA HAM POSHTE MA KOOHE
NEMITARSIM NEMIOFTIM NEMIBAZIM

IN AVAZ NEMIMIRE TAVAGHTI KE HAM AVAZIM

please listen to it with your son if you dicided to listen to her again.

Taraneh Izadi - Tehran

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July 2004

July 21

Sex trade
* Kooky Hughes
* Proof?
* Nothing to do with Islam
* No substance
Bahai heritage
* Stupid action
Shirin Ebadi
* What counts
Sand & Fog
* Eastern fatalism
* Appearances
* You have no idea
Dealing with Iran
* Explain
Jamaran blog
* Good-bye
* Hadd o hodoud-e tanz
Sirjani
* Doroud
Photo
* Defiant
Googoosh & Azam
* See for yourself
* She's human
* Most strange
* Bad role model?
* World according to Azam
* Much more
* YOUR wrong decisions
* Why I admire Googoosh
* None of our business
Music
* Memories
* Hard work

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