Remembering Marzieh, Iran’s Warmest Voice

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Staff Writer
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Remembering Marzieh,
Marzieh - By contrast, the main Iranian opposition movement, the NCRI and (PMOI / MEK Iran) applauded the work of Iranian artists and musicians. The preservation of Iranian culture has always been a priority for the opposition movement.

Remembering Marzieh,

The great diva of Iranian songs, Ashraf-ol Sadat Mortazei, best known by her stage name, Marzieh, passed away 10 years ago today (October 12th). This brief article takes a look at her life as a singer and freedom fighter for a better Iran.

Marzieh started her singing career at the age of 19 on Iran’s newly established radio broadcasts in 1943.

Marzieh became one of Iran’s best-known singers, having sung over 2,000 songs by the time she died.

Marzieh will always be remembered for her poetry and singing, but she will also be remembered for her part in supporting the Iranian opposition movement.

Marzieh’s singing took a hit after the mullahs to power in 1979. She did not sing for the next 15 years, but that hiatus proved to be the calm before the storm.

The theocracy has always been opposed to artists and musicians

The religious dictatorship that was imposed after the Iranian Revolution has always been opposed to Iranian art and culture. Most were silenced or repressed, often violently. Many fled Iran yet they remained loyal to the country of their birth. Iranian musicians probably suffered the worst of all the artists whose lives were subjected to repression by the regime.

By contrast, the main Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran) applauded the work of Iranian artists and musicians. The preservation of Iranian culture has always been a priority for the opposition movement.

It is only understandable that many exiled Iranian artists and musicians ended up joining the Iranian Resistance, many becoming members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Some names of those who joined the NCRI include:

  • Emad Ram, Master of Music, composer, and singer;
  • Marjan, renowned film actress, and singer;
  • Bahram Alivandi, a prominent painter;
  • Mansour Ghadarkhah, a director;
  • Andranik Asatourian, renowned composer, songwriter, and singer;
  • Manouchehr Sakhaei, a popular Iranian singer;
  • and many others.

Marzieh joined the NCRI

After her silent years in Iran, Marzieh went to Paris where she met Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI. She became a fervent supporter of the NCI and sung at many concerts around the world.

Marzieh was able to combine her love of music and her singing talent with a passion for pursuing a free and democratic Iran through the resistance movement. Her concerts around the world, her presence as a supporter and singer in Iraq, her meetings with politicians, and other political activities helped the cause of a free Iran.

Marzieh’s voice became a signal to represent women’s resistance and resilience against the misogyny of the mullahs. Her first concert after joining the resistance was at Ashraf in Iraq with the MEK and NLA members. Her voice rekindled the love of music amongst those who heard her sing. “I proudly wore a uniform of the struggle for freedom. I stand by my people until my last breath, proud and happy,” she said at the time.

Some of the things she wrote in her letters encapsulate her yearning for a free Iran:

  • “I have not come for an easy victory. I have come to share in all the sorrows and joys and defeats and victories of the purest and bravest men and women of my nation.”
  • “I have come to use all my talent, power, energy, art, and voice for the freedom of the country, for the freedom of Iran and our honorable and noble people. I have come to warmly shake the hand of the great lady of the Iranian Resistance… I will be with you, with you in you, I will find spring,”

Some of the songs she will be remembered for are:

  • “Kaveh Mihan”
  • “Like a Jungle”
  • “Iran Zamin”
  • “Freedom Army”

Marzieh sang “in the name of the red rose,” encouraging those under the thumb of the mullahs to spread the perfume of “the beloved” across Iran.

Marzieh will always be remembered as the symbol of resistance against the dictatorship as heard through the medium of song and music. She was unique amongst Iranian artists and her contemporaries elsewhere in the world or what she believed in.

Marzieh

MEK Iran (follow them on Twitter and Facebook)

and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube

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