A few days ago, this question came to me: Why not introduce Iranian female singers?
Then I remembered that I grew up in a very conservative household and as a child, I wasn’t familiar with any Iranian female singers. Then I went to Google to search for Iranian female singers. Bur what I found was a collection of singers from at least a generation behind, some of them weren’t even alive!
Of course, it is not surprising. In Iran, women are not allowed to sing, so the only way for them to become a singer is to emigrate abroad and start over in a new country that hardly takes them as ordinary citizens, let alone be able to gain a reputation for themselves as a singer.
Meanwhile, male singers have already earned a reputation for themselves when they emigrate from Iran, and they use that to set up shop and move forward with their carrier in another country.
The First Licensed Female Singer in Iran After Islamic Revolution!
In general, women in Iran have much more restrictions on musical activities than men. Women are not allowed to sing alone and must either have their voices heard in a group (choir) or sing only for women.
For this reason, in past decades, there have been many women training to be singers but unable to get visible in people’s eyes, because everybody knows to become a good singer, one needs to gain a reputation first, not just sing beautifully!
Meanwhile, Ms. Bahareh Mansouri is one of the first female singers to hold a women's concert in the 1980s. She, who is also the director of the women's band "Rokhsareh" and has collaborated with various individuals and groups over the years, believes that many obstacles have been placed in front of her and there are still many obstacles that may cause her to give up this profession.
According to the group's leader, Ms. Mansouri, they are not allowed to advertise or install billboards for their concerts, and there are big barriers in front of their 15 members group. Nobody wants to work with them saying they might get cancel by authorities at the last minute and they don’t want to lose their money!
Picture: Sahar Mohamadi the singer of Mahbanoo Ensemble
PS: I couldn’t find any performance of band "Rokhsareh", probably because they are not allowed to sing in front of the camera, so I decided to share the next best thing. The clip you are about to see was the reason that these female singers put on trial and banned from performing in Iran, however, the court ruled in their favor and they were acquitted. Because they were able to claim that the clips were released on the Internet without their permission.
Song: Jane Ashegh (The Soul in Love)
Band: Majid Derakhshani & Mahbanoo Ensemble
