I learned Persian in my adolescence when I returned to Iran in 1981. After my dad and I got somewhat settled in our house in Tehran, I found a box of my dad's music tapes and played them in my room one by one to get familiar with Iranian music. I've already written about my discovering Ebi on that day in another post:
https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/02/deleted-sections.html
Another one of the singers I really enjoyed listening to was Googoosh. Today marks her seventy-fourth birthday... and this year is special because it coincides with her last year on stage. She went on her farewell tour around the world (Final Chapter) and brought back so many memories for all Iranians and many non-Iranians.
Googoosh began her singing/show career after her third birthday and now, seventy years later, this legend has said goodbye to her fans all over the world.
I have many favorite songs by Googoosh. Here are a couple:
Mordab (Lagoon):
a short clip from a concert:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3YW8T4obcj/
full song (lyrics by Ardalan Sarfaraz):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty47CWg_3Kk
To get an idea of what the song is about, here's an acceptable translation of the lyrics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdyKZUew8NQ
Gahvareh (Cradle):
https://youtu.be/RT2FS0eZzLQ?feature=shared
To get an idea of what the song is about, here's an acceptable translation of the song:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/gahvare-cradle.html-0
Googoosh has lived an extraordinary life. She got stuck in Iran when the mullahs took over and was banned from singing by the occupying/terrorizing regime in Iran, almost jailed in her own house for over two decades. In 2000, when she finally was granted a passport and allowed to leave Iran after twenty-one years, she staged her first tour, which started in Toronto. Soon after, she went to California, where I resided at the time, and I had the opportunity to see her perform on stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X6yUV3zqoc
And here's another one of her concerts (May 12, 2018):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AolZSuSNmC0
A couple of years ago, Googoosh had a concert in Toronto and got a surprise...
(a birthday song in Persian and a cake on her seventy-second birthday):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBQd0a58r4
Happy Birthday, Googoosh!
#Googoosh #GoogooshBirthday #FinalChapter
