Mahvash
{{short description|Iranian singer, dancer, movie actress and stage performer in the 1950s and 1960s}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Mahvash
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Mahvash.jpg
| image_size =
| landscape =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Masumeh Azizi Borujerdi معصومه عزيزى بروجردى
| native_name = مهوش
| native_name_lang = fas
| alias = Mahvash Akram, Banu Mahvash, Ma'sumeh Azizi Borujerdi, Akram Ābgūshtī
| birth_date = 1920
| birth_place = Borujerd, Sublime State of Persia
| death_date = {{death year and age|1961|1920}}
| death_place = Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
| genre =
| occupation = Singer, dancer, stage performer
| instrument =
| years_active = 1950–1961
| label =
| associated_acts =
| website =
}}
Mahvash ({{langx|fa|مهوش}}), born Masoumeh Azizi Borujerdi ({{langx|fa|معصومه عزيزى بروجردى}}), was an Iranian singer, dancer, film actress and stage performer.{{Cite book|last1=Matthee|first1=Rudolph (Rudi)|last2=Baron|first2=Beth|year=2000|others="Voices Unveiled: Women Singers in Modern Iran,” Chehabi, Houchang E.|title=Iran and Beyond: Essays in Middle Eastern History in Honor of Nikki R. Keddie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y11tAAAAMAAJ|access-date=October 17, 2014|publisher=Mazda Publishing|location=Costa Mesa, Calif.|isbn=1-56859-099-7}} She came from a poor family and was lauded as a singer (performer) of the people in the 1950s.{{Cite web|url = http://sixpillars.org/2013/04/24/big-girl-irans-mahvash-%D9%85%D9%87%D9%88%D8%B4/|title = Big Girl, Iran's Mahvash|date = April 24, 2013|access-date = October 17, 2014|website = Six Pillars}}
== Early life and early career ==
Mahvash was born Masoumeh Azizi Borujerdi in Borujerd, Iran to a poor family, when Mahvash was a teenager the family came to Tehran. At an early age, Mahvash lost her mother. Later she went on to perform in Tehran's cabarets ({{Langx|fa|kafe-i motrebi}}) and cafes in the late 1940s to early 1950s and drew large support from the working people.{{Cite book |last1=Breyley |first1=G. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3r4CgAAQBAJ |title=Iranian Music and Popular Entertainment: From Motrebi to Losanjelesi and Beyond |last2=Fatemi |first2=Sasan |date=2015-11-19 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-33680-8 |pages=68–69 |language=en}}
However, there is confusion around her biography, and different accounts of what type of performances were happening at this age and where.{{Cite book|last1=Breyley|first1=GJ|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHv4CgAAQBAJ|title=Iranian Music and Popular Entertainment: From Motrebi to Losanjelesi and Beyond|last2=Fatemi|first2=Sasan|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=978-1317336792}} The most common story is that she performed risqué songs in the cabarets, on the radio and in movies. Another prevalent story is she began in a classical ruhowzi dance troupe as a dancer, pishparde singer, and actress; and she married a violinist who secured her entertainment engagements.
Career
She gained the admiration of the masses’ by articulating in her songs the problems, difficulties, and frustrations of the common people, struggles which she knew very well.{{Cite book|last=Talattof|first=Kamran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsjH4e4v9skC|title=Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran: The Life and Legacy of a Popular Female Artist|date=2011-06-01|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-5139-0|pages=101–102|language=en}} Her most famous songs involved a call and response-style singing with her male audience.{{Cite book|title = A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 2: The Industrializing Years, 1941–1978|last = Naficy|first = Hamid|publisher = Duke University Press|date = Sep 16, 2011|isbn = 978-0822347743|location = United States|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CPtUfi3K_JYC}}
File:Grave of Mahvash.JPG, Rey]]
She published a book in 1957 which she termed an "autobiography" which was entitled Secrets of Sexual Fulfillment ({{Langx|fa|Raz-e Kamyabi-ye Jensi}}). This book was more of a sex manual had pictures of her in a bathing suit and was published and widely distributed despite being prosecuted for the book in June 1960. It seems that Mahvash's ability to speak to the marginalized majority absolved her of her forays into prostitution and other publicly indecent behavior.
When Mahvash died in a car accident in 1961, her public funeral went was the largest of its day in Iran, with thousands of Iranians on the streets to mark her death. Iranian religious authorities were reluctant to permit her burial in a Muslim cemetery because as an entertainer she was considered unclean and unchaste; because of the large crowd mourning her death they relented.
She is buried in the Ibn Babawayh Cemetery in Tehran.
Filmography
= Acting =
- 1956 – {{III|The Sun Shines|fa|خورشید میدرخشد}} ({{Langx|fa|خورشید میدرخشد|translit=Khorshid Miderakhshad}}), with director Sardar Saker
- 1956 – {{III|Layla and Majnun (1956 film)|fa|لیلی و مجنون (فیلم ۱۳۳۵)}} ({{Langx|fa|لیلی و مجنون|translit=Leyli va Majnun}}), with director {{III|Ali-Mohammad Nourbakhsh|fa|علیمحمد نوربخش}}{{Cite web|url = http://www.sourehcinema.com/People/People.aspx?Id=138205190229#T2|title = Mahvash|year = 2013|access-date = October 17, 2014|website = Soureh Cinema|publisher = SourehCinema.com}}
- 1957 – {{III|Ladder of Progress|fa|نردبان ترقی}} ({{Langx|fa|نردبان ترقی|translit=Nardebane Taraghi}})
- 1957 – {{III|The Happy Naked One|fa|برهنه خوشحال}} ({{Langx|fa|برهنه خوشحال|translit=Berahneh Khoshhal}}), starring with {{III|Mohsen Mahdavi|fa|محسن مهدوی}}{{Cite web|title=Nostalgia|url=https://iranian.com/Nostalgia/2002/October/mm3.html?site=archive|website=Iranian.com}}
- 1959 – {{Interlanguage link|A Girl from Esfahan|fa|دختری از اصفهان}} ({{Langx|fa|دختری از اصفهان|translit=Dokhtari az Esfahan}}), with director George Ovadiah
- 1959 – {{III|Two Brides for Three Brothers|fa|دو عروس برای سه برادر}} ({{Langx|fa|Do Aroos Baraye se Baradar}}), with director {{III|Mohammad Abdi (film director)|fa|محمد عبدی}}
- 1961 – What's the Difference ({{Langx|fa|Ki Be Kiyeh}}), with director Reza Karimi
= Singing =
See also
References
{{Commons category|Mahvash}}
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=nm2802489}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll0Yh0X1jY8 Video of Mahvash dancing (film name unknown)]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQlCZ4_PEnk Video featuring Mahvash, Afat and Vigen performing]
{{authority control}}
Category:20th-century Iranian women singers
Category:Iranian erotic dancers
Category:Iranian film actresses