Parvaneh’s mother, on the other hand, quietly supported her daughter’s ambitions. It was thanks to this maternal encouragement that Homeyra continued her artistic pursuits, particularly during the times when her father was abroad. This duality of rejection from her father and support from her mother shaped much of Homeyra’s early emotional and artistic development.
Her rejection from her immediate family prior to the revolution, and later her rejection from her larger “family”—her homeland of Iran after 1979—would become defining wounds in her personal life and artistic expression.
Musical Debut and Early Career
Homeyra’s professional career began in the mid-1960s. Her first major success came with the song “Sabram Ata Kon” (صبرم آتا کن), composed by Ali Tajvidi with lyrics by Bijan Taraghi. Broadcast on Radio Tehran in the autumn of 1965, the song was an instant success, captivating both experts and the public. Its inclusion in the canon of enduring Persian songs marked Homeyra as a rising star.
Following this, her collaboration with Tajvidi produced another landmark song, “Pashimanam” (پشیمانم), a piece that revolutionized Iranian traditional music by introducing bold modulations, shifting from the mode of Homayoun to Segah and back. The song showcased both Tajvidi’s compositional genius and Homeyra’s remarkable vocal flexibility.
