Googoosh speaks in front of the United Nations in July 2009 (in Persian). Her intention is to “be the voice of the suffering, bereaved, and concerned mothers” whose children had been harmed or perished in their political quests. She describes herself as “the voice of the intellectuals, writers, artists, and sexual, ethnic, and religious minorities” who had been “tortured, imprisoned, and executed” for expressing their beliefs. She says she intends “to send Iranians’ grievances to the ears of the world,” because “people are looking to us Iranians outside of the country to be the voice of those within the country.”
Googoosh employs vocal-political metaphors in “Zartosht” (Zoroaster, Kia Media, 2000), a song from her first album after her extended silence. Fan-made video of a Googoosh’s live performance of “Zartosht” embellished with historical and Zoroastrian imagery.
Googoosh performs the life story of Iranians who departed during the revolutionary period and resettled in California in the extravaganza “Q Q Bang Bang.” (Taraneh Enterprises, 2003). Lyrics by Zoya Zakarian, music by Mehrdad Asemani, arrangement by Manouchehr Cheshmazar, and video by Koji Zadori. Link starts at English subtitled version of the video.
A page from within the booklet accompanying the DVD for “Q Q Bang Bang” superimposes Googoosh from the early 2000s over an image of her as a girl. The text is the section of the song called “At the age of fourteen.”
Farzaneh Hemmasi 