Masoumeh

Mahvash born Masoumeh Azizi Borujerdi was a singer, dancer, film actress and stage performer. She came from a poor family and was lauded as a singer of the people in the 1950s.

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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 and became a prostitute growing up in the brothels of Tehran, Iran. The brothels were her earliest stage; and from there, she went on to perform in Tehran’s cabarets and cafes and drew large support from the working people. She performed risque songs in the cabarets, on the radio and in movies. 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. Her most famous songs involved a call and response style singing with her male audience. She published a book in 1957 which she termed an "autobiography" which was entitled Secrets of Sexual Fulfillment (Persian: 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.

Masoumeh Alinejad-Ghomi is an Iranian journalist and writer. Alinejad currently works as a presenter/producer at VOA Persian Service, a reporter on popular satirical TV show OnTen, a correspondent for Radio Farda, a frequent contributor to Manoto television, and a contributing editor to IranWire.