Pejman Akbarzadeh *

Voice of America's Persian TV interviews me, for the premiere of the documentary "Hayedeh, Legendary Persian Diva" ["Sokhan az Hayedeh"]. 

The 100-min. documentary contains an extensive review of Hayedeh's artistic activities, including rare videos, audio clips, photos, and interviews with the main figures of her career. During the course of the film, we hear from Andranik, the songwriter Mohammad Heydari, producer Manouchehr Bibiyan, conductor Farnoush Behzad, music critic Mahmoud Khoshnam, and the last Persian queen Farah Pahlavi.

Since the 1979 revolution in Persia (Iran), which brought a fundamentalist religious government to power, women have not been allowed to sing in public. All Persian women singers were forced to end their careers and many of them moved abroad to sing. Hayedeh was one of those who fled Iran.

(More info: www.pejmanakbarzadeh.nl)