Susan (Iranian singer)

Susan سوسن
Background information
Birth name	Golandam Taherkhani
Also known as	Soosan, Sousan
Born	12 June 1943 Qasr-e Shirin, Iran
Died	3 May 2004 (aged 60) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1960s–2004

Susan (Persian: سوسن, pronounced: Soo'san, born Golandam Taherkhani (Persian: گل‌اندام طاهرخانی); June 12, 1943 – May 3, 2004) was a popular Iranian singer of particularly the 1960s and 1970s. Among her recordings was her 1969 release of "Kolah-Makhmali" ("felt hat").

Susan and Nematollah Aghasi on the cover on Zan-e Rooz magazine, 1970s

early life

Sosan with the real name Mahnaz or Golandam Taherkhani [4] was born in Qasr Shirin in 1943. His father's name was Ibrahim and his mother's name was Bilqis. Susan's family was Kurdish.[5] After the death of his father in an accident, he migrated to the city of Takestan with his mother and settled in this city for a while and then migrated to Tehran. His mother died of cholera. Susan lived with a woman who called her aunt. In their neighborhood, there was a woman who used to sing at the door and sometimes took Susan with her to the cafe, and she also started working with two tomans a night.

Entering the field of singing

Sosan imitated the charming songs of Qamar al-Maluk Waziri and Maluk Zarrabi and worked under the name of Victor in a cafe for fifteen tomans a night. After some time, Rashid Moradi, the music composer of Kuche Bazari, met him and took him to another cafe and chose the stage name Sosan. Susan could not read or write, but she memorized the songs with the help of Rashid Moradi and Mohammad Tehrani.[6] After many years, he went to more luxurious cafes by Jamila, who was able to open a place for himself in Shkoufeh No. Mr. Reza Soheila owned several cafes in Lalezar, he proposed to her, but she refused. As time went by, he was introduced to the radio, and then he was invited to big parties and also entered the court by Puran. In most of the parties of Taj al-Muluk, his mother Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was invited together with Muluk Zarrabi.

Sosan's most famous song is "Dost Darem Meidooni" which is composed by Fethullah Riahi and lyrics by Saeed Dabiri. Songs from several films before the revolution have been used, including: Qaiser and Hassan Kachel.

After the 1979 revolution

Sosan Elkhebal sings in cabarets. After some time, Sosan became a roommate with the singer Mohammad Tehrani, who was performing at Rohudzi Theater, and after being arrested at two parties and enduring 74 lashes twice, he decided not to sing anymore. After a few months, with the help of a person, he immigrated to Turkey, then to London, and then to America.

Hospital construction

A hospital was built in Qasr Shirin with his help and financial support, and the people of Qasr Shirin know it by his name. When this 3-story, 144-bed hospital was about to be opened, the Iran-Iraq war began, and after the capture of Qasr Shirin by Baathist Iraq, this hospital was occupied by Iraq until the beginning of 1983. The Iraqis destroyed the hospital before retreating. The area of this building is about four thousand meters, the first floor has been completely destroyed and many parts of the other two floors have been destroyed.[7][8] This hospital has not been reconstructed and is visited as a ruin left over from the Iran-Iraq war.[7]

Final years and death

At the end of her life, Susan spent her life in poverty and hardship and complained that others did not find out about her.

On May 3, 2004, Susan died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Los Angeles, USA, at the age of 60, following surgery on her long-broken right arm. She was buried in one of the American cemeteries far from her homeland.

References

• Sousan
• Soosan
• Sousan; BBC Persian service