phenomenon in the history of Iranian music, Dariush's songs have touched the souls and minds of Iranian people for over three decades. Dariush is a legend. He is one of the most gifted singers on the contemporary scene. His lyrics explore the intimate connection between pain and joy in the lives of ordinary, hardworking people and in doing so, he gives profound expression to feelings known to all Iranians. It is not an exaggeration to claim that his music is like poetry, deeply felt, and as such it has reached into the hearts of Iranian conscience.Dariush was born in Tehran on February 4, 1951 and spent his early years in Mianeh, Karaj and Kurdistan. His talent was first recognized at an early age of nine, when he appeared on stage at his school. Hassan Khayatbashi introduced him to the public at the age of twenty through Iranian Television. He immediately became popular with his legendary song, ? Do Not Tell Me I Love You ?. His contemporary and unique style opened a new era in the Iranian music.Dariush has never compromised his deeply held beliefs. Whether he sings poems of Shamloo and Naderpour or lyrics of Janatti-Attaei , Ghanbari and Biat the one theme that runs through all his music is that of love, peace, freedom and justice. In post-revolutionary Iran, there was no place for Dariush?s art. By necessity, he left his native land and now lives in United States with his wife and seven-year old daughter.His body of work consists of over 200 songs in 25 albums . He has had sold-out performances in concert halls around the world notably Wembley (London), Carnegie Hall (New York), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Koncertos (Stockholm), Greek Theater (Los Angeles) and Universal Amphitheater (Los Angeles). Dariush has also explored the art of images and has acted in two films, Yarran and Faryadeh Zireh Ub .Dariush's music and message has gone beyond his own culture. The Arab world, with its rich musical culture, has embraced Dariush with great enthusiasm. In a recent International Festival of Music Video and Tele-Media held in Bahrain, Dariush was recognized as the sole representative of contemporary Iranian music. He was awarded the highest Peace Trophy. In the closing ceremonies of the Festival, Dariush sang of freedom, particularly in his homeland, Iran.
www.danceage.com

An Iranian singer and actress "Googoosh"

Madonna, Barbara, Celine, Judy, Omul,GoogooshWhomever you call the best does not matter. Iran'ssingle most successful super star is Googoosh. Today,she consistently outsells all other Iranian popstars by afactor of 10. She is the quintessential Diva and sets thestandard by which all others follow.Her style, grace, fire and passion for her craft leave no doubt as to her greatness and countless millions fromaround the world follow her every move with an enthusiasm and following that is timeless and endless.Googoosh was born Faegheh Atashin in 1951 on Sarcheshmeh Street, in an old and worn down part ofTehran, to Azerbaijani immigrant parents from the formerSoviet Union. When she was two, they separated. Because of her father's profession - he was an acrobat and an entertainer - she grew accustomed to the stageearly on, and was part of his act until she was three.She began doing impersonations of some of the singersof the time. When her father discovered this talent, he put her on stage. She has been on stage as a paid professional since she was three. Googoosh had one brother who, at the age of 24, was struck by heartrheumatism and passed away. She has three half-brothers on her father's side and a brother andsister on her mother's side.Because Googooosh's mother was separated from herfather when Googoosh was young, Googoosh nevergot a chance to live with her.Her mother later remarriedand as a result, Googoosh didn't see her again until she was 13.
For a while she was even told that her mother hadpassed away - so that she wouldn't ask for her onthe road.Because Googoosh lived with her stepmother, she didn't have a very good home life.But she was occupiedwith school and performances,and was kept busy with household chores.She wasalso in charge of one of her brothers.The name "Googoosh" is an Armenian name but fora boy and was given to her at birth. But because itwas a boy's name there was a problem registeringthe name on her birth certificate. As a result, her registered name is Faegheh.During the 1970's Googoosh began a meteoric rise tofame and success as she drove the edge of Iranianpop music further and further. Known for her flamboyant outfits, and fashion sense, Googoosh wowed her pop culture hungry fans in Iran and abroad with her trademark hairdos and hip-elegantstyle. Iranian women changed hairdos with Googooshand she was always one step ahead of them with a new look.Googoosh's private life was not quite so successfuland a series of bad marriages and abusive relationships followed. She has one son Kambiz whois also in the music industry in Los Angeles.After the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, Googooshhad been forbidden from performing and her materialhad been banned.She kept herself occupied at home, taking care of her house,reading.Because she had no
intentions of leaving Iran, she adapted to her new life.Many people would tell her that other Iranian singers whobegan their careers much later in life than she did were choosing to leave because they could not endure not being able to perform.They would ask how it was thatshe,who had always been on stage managed to adapt.For a time Googoosh battled depression until the early1990s when she met Massoud Kimiai (now her husband).He saw her sadness, and later told her that it was as if the flower of her soul had withered. On their first date hetook her to a private recording studio in Tehran and after years of silence she put on her headphones, and started to sing for the first time in years. This had an overwhelming effect on her and gradually an energyquickly spread within her. Now drawing from the love shereceived from people since the end of the Iran-Iraq war,ttwas this support which brought her out of her depression.In 1999 rumors spread to Iran that a following had grownoutside of Iran and the many ex-patriate Iranians who had left Iran during the revolution yearned for Googooshto perform again.It was under this encouragement and theopportunity presented by an Iranian concert promoter that enabled Googoosh to leave Iran in 2000 and start a concert tour that spanned the globe.Today Googoosh is based in Toronto Canada where shecontinues to work on her music career as well as independent films. Googoosh still tours regularly and herconcerts are sold out events throughout the Iranian andnon-Iranian communities wherever she goes.

From: www.googoosh.comThe official site

Special thanks to: www.googoosh.tv

An Iranian poet "Fereydoon moshiri"

Fereydoon Moshiri was born in September 1926 in Tehran to a family that was known to have a legacy of poetry. His school years were divided between Tehran and Mashhad where his father held administrative posts.With the outbreak of the world war II the family moved to Tehran and the young Moshiri continued his education in Dar-ol-Fonoon and then in Adib high school. Throughout these years his first poems appeared in progressive journals such as Iran-e-Ma. This was the beginning of a career in literary journalism that continued for more than thirty years. In 1946 Moshiri joined the Iranian department of Telecommunication where he served till retirement. In 1954 Moshiri married Eghbal Akhavan, then a student painting at Tehran University. Their daughter and son, Bahar and Babak both are now architects in Iran. Moshiri's first volume of poetry titled "Teshne-ye Toofan" (Thirsty for the Storm) was published in 1955. His poems with its earthy lyrical nature received wide attention among the readers, and had an inspiring effect on a generation of younger poets. Through the later years, Moshiri continued to have a major influence on development of modern poetry in Iran. Later works which were published under the titles "Abr-o-Koocheh" (Cloud and The Alley, 1962), and "Bahar Ra Bavar Kon" (Believe The Spring, 1967) embraced a wide variety of universal concepts ranging from humanistic considerations to social justice.Moshiri is best known as conciliator of classical Persian poetry at one side with the New Poetry initiated by Nima Yooshij at the other side. One of the major contributions of Moshiri's poetry, according to some observers, is the broadening of the social and geographical scope of modern Persian literature.

Notes to God

A nun asked her class to write notes to God...here are some of the notes they handed in.

Dear God:I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool.

Dear God:Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you have?

Dear God:Maybe Cain and Abel would not have killed each other so much if they had their own rooms. That's what my Mom did for me and my brother.

Dear God:If you watch me in church on Sunday, I'll show you my new shoes.Dear God:I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I'm having a hard time loving all of them.

Dear God:In school they told us what you do. Who does it when you are on vacation?

Dear God:Are you really invisible or is it just a trick?

Dear God:Is it true my father won't get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house?

Dear God:Did you mean for the Giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?

Dear God:Who draws the lines around the countries?

Dear God:I went to this wedding and they kissed right in the church. Is that okay?

Dear God:Did you really mean "do unto others as they do unto you"? because if you did then I'm going to get my brother good.

Dear God:Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.

Dear God:Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up.

Dear God:I want to be just like my Daddy when I get big, but not with so much hair all over.

Dear God:You don't have to worry about me, I always look both ways.

Dear God:Of all the people who work for you I like Noah and David the best.

Dear God:My brother told me about being born but it doesn't sound right. They're just kidding, aren't they?

Dear God:I would like to live 900 years just like the guy in the Bible.

Dear God:We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school they said you did it. So, I bet he stole your idea.

Some poem of an Iranian poet "Forough farokhzad"

I am composing this poem for you
on a parched summer duskhalfway down this road of ominous beginningIn the old grave of this endless sorrow
this is the final lullabyat the foot of the cradle where you sleepmay the wild sounds of my screamingecho in the sky of your youth
let the shadow of me the wandererbe separate and far from your shadowwhen one day we reach one another
standing between us will be none other than God
against a dark door I have restedmy forehead tight with pain
I rub my thin, cold fingersagainst this door in hope
that person branded with shame who used to laughat foolish taunts was I
I said I would be the cry of my own existence
"but O, alas that I was a "woman
when your innocent eyes glance,at this confused, beginningless book
you will see a deep-rooted, lasting rebellion.blooming in the heart of every song
,here the stars are all dim
,the angels here all weep
the blooms of the tuberose here.have less value than desert thorns
here, seated along every road.Is the demon of duplicity, disgrace and deceit
In the dark sky I do not see.a light from the bright morning of wakefulness
wait until once again my eyes.overflow with drops of dew
I have taken it upon myself to unveil.the "pure" faces of the holy Marys
;I have cast away from the shore of good name
.In my heart lies a storm star
,the place of my anger's flame
.alas, is the prison's dark space
against a dark door I have rested.my forehead tight with pain
I rub my thin, cold fingers.against this door in hope
against these ascetic hypocrites.I know this fight is not easy
,my city and yours, my sweet child
.has long been Satan's nest
a day will come when your eyes.will sadly quiver at this painful song
you will search for me in my words.and tell yourself: My mother, that is who she was
--------------------------
When my faith was hanging
by the weak thread of justice
and in the whole citythe hearts of my lamps were,
being torn to pieces

when the childlike eyes of my love,
were being blindfolded by law's black kerchief

and fountains of blood were gushing forth,
from the distressed temples of my desire

when my life was no longer anything
nothing but the tick tock of a wall clock

I discovered that I must

that I absolutely had to.love madly

one window is enough for me

one window to the moment of consciousness.
and looking and silence

the walnut sapling
Is now tall enough to explain
the meaning of the wall.
to its young leaves
ask the mirror.
the name of your savior
Is not the earth that trembles under your feet
lonelier than you?
--------------------------
And this is I
a woman alone
at the threshold of a cold season
at the beginning of understanding
the polluted existence of the earth
and the simple and sad pessimism of the sky
and the incapacity of these concrete hands
--------------------------------
time passed,
time passed and the clock stuck four,
struck four times ,
today is the winter solstice,
I know the season's secrets...
the wind is blowing through the street,
the beginning of ruination.
I am cold,
I am cold, and it would appear
that I will never be warm again...
I am cold and I know
that nothing will be left
of all the red dreams of one wild poppy
but a few drops of blood.
I shall give up lines
and give up counting syllables too.
and I will seek refuge from the mob
of finite measured forms
In the sensitive planes of expanse.

I am naked, naked, naked,

I am naked as silence between words of love,
and all my wounds come form love,
from loving...

will I once again
comb my hair with wind?

will I ever again plant pansies in the garden
and set geraniums in the sky?
outside the window

will I ever again dance on wine glasses
will the doorbell call me again?
toward a voice's expectation

I said to Mother, It's all over now.
I said, Things always happen before one thinks;