Mahasti


Eftekhar Dadehbala , better known as Mahasti, was an Iranian singer of Persian classical, Folk, and pop music. She was the younger sister of Iranian singer Hayedeh.

Early life and career

Eftekhar Dadehbala was born on November 16, 1946, in Tehran, Iran. She is the younger sister of Iranian singer Hayedeh. Mahasti started her career on the Persian traditional music radio program "Gol hâ ye Rangârang" in 1963, with the song "Ân ke Delam Râ Borde Xodâyâ" composed and arranged by maestro Parviz Yahaghi with lyrics by Bijan Taraghi.
In the beginning, Mahasti's family was reluctant to allow her to pursue a career in entertainment because it was not an appreciated career for women in Iran at that time. However, Mahasti overcame this stigma providing Iran with a new image for women within the entertainment industry.
Mahasti created an image of a "gentle-woman" singer, a lady with great manners. Her enormous success in music opened the pathway for many other women, including her elder sister, Hayedeh, who started her work 5 years after Mahasti. The two sisters had tremendous contributions to improving the image of female singers in Iran and in transitioning the Iranian music from where it was to where it is now.

Personal life

Mahasti's parents divorced and remarried to other people. When she wanted to pursue a career of singing her parents weren't happy because of society's look upon female singers at the time. Mahasti married Kouros Nazemiyan and gave birth to her only child, Sahar. Mahasti and her family lived in Abadan for several years, finally moving back to Tehran.
Her marriage with Nazemiyan ultimately ended in divorce. Nazemiyan was executed by the Revolutionary Court of the new Islamic Republic shortly after the Islamic revolution. Several years later she remarried, to Bahram Sanandaji, owner of a shoe factory, however, their marriage was also dissolved. In 1978, before the revolution she emigrated to the United Kingdom, and then to the United States in 1981, where she lived thereafter.

Death and burial

In March 2007, Mahasti publicly announced that she had been battling colon cancer for four years. She hoped that her experience would raise awareness within the Iranian community regarding cancer and the significance of constant physical examinations. She was then living in Santa Rosa, California with her daughter, Sahar, her husband, Naser, and their two children, Natasha and Natalie, her only grandchildren. She died on June 25, 2007, aged 60, in Santa Rosa.
Mahasti was interred at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California on June 29, 2007, the same cemetery where her sister Hayedeh was also buried. Her funeral was broadcast live on Persian Broadcasting Company Tapesh and was attended by many Persian celebrities and stars and other artists including the mayor of Beverly Hills Jimmy Delshad and designer Bijan Pakzad.

Discography

Albums

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