Monika Jalili was born in New York. Her father is Dutch and her mother is German. She has Jalili as her married last name as a result of marrying a gentleman by the name of Reza Jalili. She is a Columbia University graduate in French and as a vocalist. She has assembled a band of 4 members whom none are Persian. However she and her band called NoorSaaz have been performing folklore and traditional Persian songs to mostly non-Persian audiences. I believe their first performance was in Trinity Church in New York in 2005 that was recorded and played on their webcast. Their performance had 200K hit in two months that was just amazing given that it was their first performance and they were an unknown group. You can watch that performance via the following link;
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/calendar/index.php?event_id=22352
This group is painting a positive picture for a region and a country that people via media does not hear a whole lot of good things about. Not only she sings these wonderful songs in Persian, she gives the history and provides translation.
If you like to know more about Monika and NoorSaaz, there is a good amount of information that you can access via Google search. She received an Award of Excellence for their work at the Persian Golden Lioness Awards(R) 2nd Annual in Budapest, Hungary.
