The return of Googoosh

"Vestnik Kavkaza" opens the heading "Music Treasury", in which it will be possible not only to read materials about music and musicians of the Caucasus, but also to listen to them, as well as view videos. We start with Iranian musicians of Azeri origin.

Thanks to the media, Iran is considered to be a state dominated by Islamic radicalism and the idea of creating nuclear weapons. However, it is an ancient multi-ethnic country with a rich culture and traditions. Studying Aryan Indo-European languages led scientists to believe that linguistic and cultural affinity lies in the similarity of the ancient Aryans, the descendants of which are historical and contemporary Iranian and Indo-Aryan peoples.

Today's Iran is inhabited by many Azerbaijanis, Armenians and Jews, who made a great contribution to the formation of Iranian culture. In recent decades some cultural workers emigrated from Iran and now live in the U.S. or European countries. Among them are world-renowned musicians. One of them is Googoosh, the world-famous singer of Azerbaijani descent. Her story opens the Vestnik Kavkaza heading "Music Treasury".

On August 8, 2000, onto the stage of "The Pacific Coliseum" in Vancouver came a frail woman of extraordinary beauty in a simple blue dress. The ten-thousand-strong audience greeted her with thunderous applause. Neither the audience nor the singer could hold back their tears. Subsequently, many of those present told the press that they had been waiting for this moment for decades. So began Googoosh's second public appearance after twenty years of silence.

Faegheh Atashin, better known as Googoosh, was born in 1950 in Tehran, into the family of Azerbaijani immigrants from the Soviet Union. In 1952 her parents divorced and custody was transferred to the father. This was the first of a long line of separations Googoosh faced in her life. Both of her parents remarried. Her father said that her mother had died, and up to 13 years of age Googoosh had not seen her mother, and did not even know that she was alive.

Googoosh loved the stage since childhood - her father was an acrobat, and Googoosh participated in his performances when she was less than 3 years old. She imitated the popular performers of that period. Her talent did not go unnoticed. Moreover, her father quickly realized that Googoosh had a rare musical gift - and at the age of three she appeared on stage with solo performances. Googoosh had a difficult relationship with her stepmother, she felt uncomfortable at home. She devoted all her time and efforts t creativity.

Success was not long in coming. Already in the 1950s Googoosh acted in movies. In 1966 she sang Gheseyeh Vafa, the first song written especially for her.  By the 1970s the entire country was listening to Googoosh. She was a trendsetter. When the singer changed her hairstyle, crowds of fans went to the hairdresser's to look like their idol. Googoosh starred in more than 25 films. In 1972 she performed the song Ayrilik ("Separation") in Baku, it was one of the most important songs in her work. The author of the music for the song, Ali Salimi, was forced to leave Azerbaijan with his family and move to Iran. All his pain and longing for his native land were expressed in this tune. And the voice of Googoosh, full of grief and hope, fully expresses all the emotions of the author of the melody, making it unforgettable. This understanding cost the singer a lot, because the melody seems to be telling the story about the tragedy of her own family, and (what she could not know then, but she could have had a premonition) of an impending departure from her motherland.

Despite fame, success and universal recognition, Googoosh was pursued by unhappiness - her only brother died at age 24 from acute rheumatic fever, and all four of her marriages fell apart. Her only joy was her son named Cambyses, born in the first marriage.

In 1979, Googoosh stopped singing. The singer's name was forgotten, at least officially. Years of separation from music passed, the essence of her life since early childhood. Yet Googoosh did not want to leave her motherland - when the revolution took place in 1979 she was in Los Angeles. Her son was in Switzerland at that time. Everyone told her that there was no way she could return to Iran. But she went back, because, in her own words, she had taken nothing with her. All the things that were dear to her heart remained at home. Even knowing that the situation in the country was not stable, she could not suddenly break the connection to the places where she had been born and grown up.

Googoosh returned to spend the next two decades without going abroad, while many popular artists hastily left the country to settle in the United States, in the first place - in LA. Googoosh had not sung for more than 10 years. In 1991 she married Massoud Kimia. It was he who brought her to a private studio in Tehran, where she first sang after many years. In 2000 Googoosh went on a concert tour, and did not come back - the singer remained in the U.S. Despite the long-standing silence, the popularity of Googoosh broke out with renewed vigour. Despite all these years, people had not forgotten Googoosh - her records were still being sold, albeit unofficially, listened to at private parties. She maintained a cult status, although she had no opportunity to sing at public events any more.

Googoosh's songs are still known and loved in her homeland - from kids to older people. Many residents and natives of the Caucasus region instilled a love for her songs in their children and grandchildren. When Googoosh was able to visit the north of Iraq and Dubai on a tour, thousands of fans hit the road to get to her concerts. In autumn 2000 she made a triumphant concert tour of the major cities in North America and Europe. All tickets for her concerts were sold out, including all 18,000 seats in the stadium in Los Angeles, although the cheapest tickets cost a few hundred dollars.

Googoosh settled in Los Angeles, not far from her son and his family. But despite the incredible success, the singer misses home. She continues releasing new songs and giving concerts around the world, gathering full stadiums and concert halls. Googoosh's fame never dimmed, despite the twenty-one years of silence, it even broke out with renewed vigour in 2000 - because for tens of millions of people Googoosh represents the memory of a bygone era, the longing for their family and hope for a reunion.