{"id":220389,"date":"2020-06-13T13:16:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T12:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=220389"},"modified":"2023-06-06T15:44:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T14:44:05","slug":"washington-post-marjan-iranian-actress-and-singer-became-symbol-of-rebellion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/washington-post-marjan-iranian-actress-and-singer-became-symbol-of-rebellion\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post: Marjan, Iranian Actress and Singer Became Symbol of Rebellion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Washington<\/p>\n

The <\/span>Washington Post published <\/span>an article<\/span><\/a> on June 13<\/span> about Marjan<\/a>, <\/span>an <\/span>Iranian renowned singer<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>actress who passed away on June 5, in <\/span>a hospital at Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Born Shahla Safi Zamir in 1948, Marjan was <\/span>one of the well-known Iranian artists and her songs very much loved by the Iranian people. After the anti-mo<\/span>narchic revolution in 1979, like many other artists<\/span>,<\/span> she was banned from singing. She <\/span>was a supporter of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI \/ MEK)<\/a> until her very last days. She was arrested along with her husband, <\/span>one of Iran\u2019s well-known movie directors <\/span>Ferydoon<\/span> Jourak<\/span>, in 1982 for supporting the MEK. Her resistance <\/span>in <\/span>the regime\u2019s dungeons inspired many <\/span>inmates.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She left Iran in 2001 and joined the Iranian Resistance and sang songs for <\/span>\u201cthe city\u2019s martyrs\u201d, \u201cshattering the 1000-year silence in Ward 209\u201d, \u201ctime for regime change\u201d, and \u201cwe will rebuild our country\u201d<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Below is the full text of <\/span><\/b>the <\/span><\/b>Washington <\/span><\/b>Post article:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marjan<\/h2>\n

Iranian actress and singer who became symbol of rebellion, dies at 71<\/h3>\n

By: Matt Schudel<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marjan, a popular singer and actress in pre-revolutionary Iran who, after being imprisoned by the country\u2019s Islamic authorities in the 1980s, lent her voice to the cause of political freedom in her homeland, died June 5 at a hospital in Los Angeles. She was 71.<\/p>\n

The cause was complications from surgery, the National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Marjan, the stage name for Shahla Safi Zamir, acted in more than 30 Farsi-language films in the 1960s and 1970s and was one of Iran\u2019s best-known celebrities before the overthrow of the country\u2019s Western-backed leader, or shah, in 1979. She also made hit records, often evoking nostalgic sentiments, that were popular with Iranians.<\/p>\n

When Islamic leaders, or mullahs, seized power in Iran, filmmaking was temporarily stopped, and women were forbidden from singing in public. Marjan joined an opposition movement<\/a> to fight the newly imposed strictures and was first arrested in 1980 for singing a song translated as \u201cHomeland<\/a>\u201d: \u201cMy homeland, my home, I have no place but here, I have no future without you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arrested again in 1982 for her association with political dissidents, Marjan spent two years in prison, including nearly nine months in solitary confinement. She was held with other women and later highlighted the plight of female prisoners and artists in Iran.<\/p>\n

Maryam Rajavi, NCRI president-elect, said in a statement that Marjan was prominent among the women \u201cwho rose up and fought the regime\u201d and \u201care genuine representatives of the suffering of Iranian women and their passionate desire for liberation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marjan fled Iran in 2001 for Dubai.
\n\u201cThere I went to the U.S. Embassy and introduced myself,\u201d she said in a 2015 interview with Al Arabiya TV. \u201cThey found out that I was a famous actress and singer and they agreed to give me asylum.\u201d
\nShe and her husband settled in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Marjan\u2019s voice was not heard again in public until 2005, when she sang at Washington\u2019s DAR Constitution Hall before a gathering of Iranians in exile. One of the Farsi songs<\/a> she performed that night served as a rallying cry for resistance toward Iran\u2019s clerical regime:<\/p>\n

My young branches have been wounded by axes
\nBut, what will you do with the roots?
\nWhat will you do?<\/p>\n

In another verse, she sang that birds may have been banned from flying, \u201cbut what will you do with the young birds sitting in the nest?\u201d
\nDuring the next few years, Marjan recorded and helped write dozens of rousing anthems with overt political messages, including \u201cTime to Overthrow<\/a>,\u201d \u201cWe Will Build a Nation<\/a>\u201d and \u201cWe Must and We Can<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

She rarely presented commercial concerts, preferring to appear at rallies of the NCRI and other dissident groups in the United States and Albania, where a large community of Iranian exiles resides.<\/p>\n

She performed at annual rallies in Paris before crowds of as many as 100,000. In June 2018, an Iranian state-sponsored attempt to plant bombs<\/a> at the rally was thwarted by French, German and Belgian law enforcement authorities, according to French officials.<\/p>\n

Although officially banned in Iran, Marjan\u2019s music made its way into the hands of a new generation who chafed against the mullahs\u2019 repressive rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarjan\u2019s songs, and her commitment to freedom and the people of Iran,\u201d the NCRI\u2019s Rajavi said at a ceremony in Albania<\/a>, \u201care inspiring to the young people of Iran and particularly to defiant young women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shahla Safi Zamir was born July 14, 1948, into a wealthy family in Shiraz, Iran. She was a radio broadcaster before appearing in her first film in 1969, \u201cA World Full of Hope,\u201d opposite Mohammad Ali Fardin, one of Iran\u2019s best-known actors.<\/p>\n

Marjan appeared in many films during the 1970s, often cast in somewhat racy roles. She gave a more substantial dramatic performance in \u201cResting Against the Wind\u201d (1978), directed by her husband, Fereydoun Jourak. It was her final film before the Iranian Revolution.<\/p>\n

Her first marriage, to radio actor Mehdi Ali-Mohammadi, ended in divorce. Survivors include Jourak, of Los Angeles; a daughter from her first marriage; and several grandchildren.<\/p>\n

When she reappeared in public during her 2005 concert in Washington, Marjan seemed to connect her return to the stage to the fate of Iranian dissent, singing:
\nDon\u2019t think that I\u2019ve been forgotten
\nI have been etched in history and memories
\nI\u2019ve become so united with my people
\nThat you\u2019d think I\u2019m their voice
\nTheir voice
\nTheir voice.<\/p>\n

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Rouyesh (Blossoming), Marjan's first performance after 27 yrs of silence. At DAR Constitution Hall<\/div><\/div>
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