In 2012, when the words “Iran” and “Israel” appeared in headlines only beside “threat” and “war,” a music album did something strange: it crossed a border no diplomat had. A voice singing in Persian, recorded in Tel Aviv, was passed hand to hand in the living rooms of Tehran and Shiraz. This is the story of that voice — and the woman who sang it.
A Girl from Tehran
Rita Yahan-Farouz was born on 24 March 1962 in Tehran. She was eight years old when, in 1970, her family emigrated to Israel and settled in Ramat HaSharon.
Her mother had a beautiful voice and never stopped singing the old Persian melodies — even in their new home. A piece of Iran travelled with them, folded into lullabies.
The songs on my album in Farsi are the soundtrack of my childhood. My mother had a beautiful voice and was always singing these traditional songs to me, even when we were in Israel, so there was always a piece of Iran in me.
Israel's Biggest Star
In Israel, Rita became one of the best-loved singers in the country's history — so beloved that the press calls her “Israel's Madonna.”
In 1990 she represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb with “Shara Barkhovot” (“Singing in the Streets”). She placed 18th — a respectable finish, and one often misremembered: she did not win.
An Album in the Language of Childhood
In 2012 she released “My Joys” (in Hebrew, “HaSmachot Sheli”) — a collection of classic Persian ballads, among them the traditional wedding song “Shah Doomad.” In Israel it went gold within three weeks.
By any measure it was an unlikely record for one of Israel's biggest stars to make. Even her friends warned her she was about to sing “in the language of Ahmadinejad.” She sang it anyway.
There's more to the region than violence, bombs and darkness, and I want to share the rich culture I am a part of.
The Voice That Crossed the Wall
In Iran, where Western-style pop is banned, the album surfaced underground. Copies were sold furtively on the black market and passed from hand to hand — bootlegged, unlabelled, quietly.
Then the messages began to arrive from inside Iran. And the regime noticed: the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency branded her music a “plot,” part of Israel's “soft war.” The fear was its own confession — the wall had been breached.
I'm combining Hebrew and Persian so much together, and I am showing that it is possible.
Letters from the other side of the wall
The notes came by email, at real risk to the senders. Two the reporters saw:
I'm writing you from Shiraz in Iran, and just wanted to tell you that you're a source of great pride for us.
I'm completely in love with your voice — you have no idea how hard it was to send you this email.
The Bridge Built Before the Treaty
These songs belong to Iran. “Shah Doomad,” her mother's lullabies — this is Iranian heritage, carried out of Tehran by an eight-year-old and returned, fifty years later, as a gift the whole country recognised as its own.
Culture crossed where politics could not. Long before any document was signed, a bridge of pure sound already stood between the two peoples. Cyrus freed the Jews in 538 BCE; the debt runs both ways, and it has always moved in both directions. The Cyrus Accords (پیمان کوروش) would complete that bridge — but a singer laid its first stones years ago, in a language she learned at her mother's side.
She has said she hopes to “puncture the wall of tension” between the two countries.
I was born to an amazing culture. Most of the world, they didn't know that from this culture came so many things.
Sources
- 1.Jewish Telegraphic Agency — “With Farsi album, Israeli singer Rita finds herself a fan club in Iran,” 8 Nov 2012.
- 2.CNN — “Rita: An Israeli star singing Iranian songs,” 11 Sept 2012.
- 3.NPR, The Record — “Iran To Israel And Back To Iran: Rita's Music Goes Home,” 12 Nov 2012.
- 4.NoCamels — “Iranian-Born Israeli Music Icon Rita Sings New Album In Persian,” Jul 2012.
- 5.Variety — “International Star You Should Know: Rita, Israeli Singer,” 2013.
- 6.Eurovision.tv — “Rita — Israel — Zagreb 1990.”
- 7.Wikipedia — “Rita (Israeli singer).”