Homeland, under the Shah, was modernizing, which, in some instances, also meant adopting more progressive attitudes toward music and in particular, female performers. But change was slow in coming — it was never universal or total — and came to a grinding halt following the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
She was at once very Western and more modern than any female singer before her was. Born in 1950, she started her career as a child star performing with her acrobat father, who raised her after her parents divorced. She won the hearts of her audiences by her ability to sing and dance and entertain. She was a kind of Iranian Shirley Temple who grew up to become Madonna.
