Iran’s famed singer Googoosh recalls family, exile and life in the spotlight

DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP For Googoosh Iran s most-famous singer life inevitably has been balancing act of one kind or another It began as a child performing with her acrobat father who balanced her on a chair atop another chair resting only on his chin Then later as an icon of stage and screen during the last years of the shah her looks and hairstyles were copied by Iranian women who desired to look more Googooshi a Farsi adjective all her own Then came the decades of silence after Iran s Islamic Revolution barred from performing only to return to the stage abroad in And now embarking on a farewell tour she s adding author as her latest reinvention as her homeland undergoes a societal change yet again I did not realize that all these challenges and struggles were considered a balancing act the -year-old singer described The Associated Press If that is what it means then yes I have spent my entire life trying to create and maintain a balance between my personal life and my artistic life We were a hit The new book by the singer born Faegheh Atashin is called Googoosh A Sinful Voice In it Googoosh with the help of co-author Tara Dehlavi recounts a life shaped by both the political forces that have changed Iran in the modern era and her tumultuous personal life But it all began with performing at an early age with her father Saber Atashin to whom the book is dedicated along with the people of Iran Googoosh recounts falling only once in the shows her father catching her But from the first performance atop the chair Googoosh appeared bound for the spotlight They held their breath and waited in complete silence she recounted Every muscle in my body tensed Seconds felt like an eternity Ultimately Papa slowly began to lower me gently toward the ground When my feet touched the floor the audience sighed in relief before they erupted into roaring applause I had survived And we were a hit Googoosh began caroling and performing in films at a young age That included before the royal court of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who later became mortally ill and fled Iran just before the revolution Googoosh had been tabloid fodder in Iran before the revolution Married four times in her life her personal life long had been a fascination And within her book she recounts undergoing abortions and battling with substance abuse around and after the revolution including freebasing cocaine and smoking opium She considers suicide at one point in New York City before deciding to go back to Iran under its newly formed theocracy There were times where I would ask this question to you and say Are you sure you want to share this Dehlavi her co-author announced And you invariably commented that I m either I m telling my story or I m not I have to I have to tell it all Detention harassment and an escape Returning to Iran Googoosh determined herself harassed by its newly empowered theocracy which put a lien on her home and blocked her ability to be issued a passport Administration banned her from performing or vocalizing she recounted and at one point imprisoned her But she describes while trying to hide her identity in citizens or in private people inevitably pushed her to sing again to find her voice despite the restrictions and threats After the revolution the pressure on me grew Googoosh declared Since Farsi is my mother tongue and I grew up in Iran I could not adjust to living outside my country I did not want that life I hoped I could somehow continue performing for my own people inside my own country Ultimately though in under the executive of reformist President Mohammad Khatami Googoosh was able to get a contract to perform abroad pull the money together to pay off her liens obtain a passport and leave Iran She never returned but has performed abroad for the last years for Iranians who similarly are homesick for their country Islamic hard-liners within Iran still denounce her particularly after music video about homosexual love punishable by death in the country Iran s women increasingly abandon hijab Googoosh s new book and her farewell tour come at a time of change in Iran More and more Iranian women choose to forgo the country s mandatory headscarf or hijab The death of Mahsa Amini and the nationwide protests that followed enraged women of all ages and views in a way inadequate other issues have since the revolution But meanwhile Iran s financial sector continues to strain under international sanctions over its nuclear effort Its theocracy continues to execute people in the wake of the -day war with Israel while also increasingly targeting intellectuals and others with arrest We are seeing our youth especially women fighting for their largest part basic rights including choosing what to wear expressing their art freely if they have artistic talent and living a normal life like people in other parts of the world Googoosh explained People in my country are struggling to give their families an ordinary life They struggle for clean water clean air and land where they can live Our young people grew old without ever enjoying their youth Our people must end this painful cycle and gain the freedoms every human being deserves But requested what her plans were once her tour ended Googoosh left open the possibility of once again getting back on the stage Throughout my life I have almost never been able to plan my future Everything has only happened to me she noted We have not controlled our own lives for years Whatever we planned never happened and whatever happened was never planned by us I am no exception and I expect to continue living this way She added Still I prefer to leave my artistic work for a day when the Islamic Republic no longer exists in my country Source