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ŻARRĀBI, Moluk, the stage name of Moluk Faršforuš Kāšāni
(b. Kāšān, ca 1289 Š./1910; d. Tehran, 1378 Š./1999), Persian singer
and actress. Moluk was born into a musically inclined family. Her
grandfather Ḥāji Jaʿfar was known as a singer at the court of
Nāṣer-al-Din Shah Qājār, who bestowed upon him the honorary name of
“Bolol” (Nightingale); thereafter, he was known as Ḥāji Jaʿfar Bolbol.
Her father Ḥāji Ḥosayn Faršforuš also had a local reputation for his
good voice. She inherited the family’s vocal talent and precociously
exhibited it at the age of seven. Her early desire to sing entailed
familial discontentment and social ostracism at school as it nearly did
for every musically gifted girl of her time. In spite of all the
difficulties, Moluk was found to be singing at social gathering in
Kāšān at the age of thirteen in 1923 (Māleki, pp. 196-97).
Initial recognition and musical training. Moluk Kāšānĭ credited singer Sayyed Ḥosayn T
ṟāherzādawith discovering her potential as a singer at the home
of the patron of music ʿEyn-al-Solṭān and for offering her two years of
vocal lessons. She also cited one-headed drum (tombak/żarb)
player Ḥāji Khan ʿEyn-al-Dawlaʾi to have tutored her for a year in
rhythmic patterns of metered Persian songs (Ḥāddādi, p. 380; Māleki, p.
196). Her alto voice with its limited one-octave range was suited to
singing rhythmic, through-composed songs (tasÂnif-e
zarbi), in distinction to the unmetered āvāz
(q.v.), the prominent Persian modal chants. In time, she became so
widely identified with such rhythmic songs that she was given the stage
name Żarrābi, which derives from her mastery of taṣnif-e żarbi. She
also received vocal lessons from the singer Abu’l-Ḥasan Eqbāl Āḏar
(q.v.) and was considered to be one of his students (Ḥāddādi, p. 42;
Sepantā, p. 212). She also attentively listened to recordings of
Persian music available to her, particularly those of master singer
Qamar-al-Moluk Waziri.
Musical and stage career. Żarrābi’s professional career
as a singer began with two public performances in Tehran at Firuz
Bahrām High School and with master setār player Aḥmad ʿEbādi (q.v.) at The Grand Hotel in 1924. Later, she joined tār player
Esmāʿil Mehrtāš’s music-theater group Jāmeʿa-ye Bārbod that had been
established in 1926. Her collaboration with the pioneering Bārbod
orchestra resulted in her performances in such plays as ʿAdālat (Justice), and musicals and recordings such as Ḵosrow o
Širin and Layli o Majnun. These
performances ensured Żarrābi a place on the roster of prominent singers
and the actresses of the first half of the 20th century Persian theater
and cinema.
Soon after the establishment of Radio Tehran in 1940, Żarrābi
was invited to sing with various broadcast ensembles. For these radio
programs, she associated with such well-known musicians as violinist
Abu’l-Ḥasan Ṣabā and Ḥosayn Yāḥaqqi, pianist Mortażā Maḥjubi, santur player
Ḥabib Samāʿi, and tombak player Ḥosayn Tehrāni. Lyricist Ḥasan Sālek
provided the lyrics and Ḥosayn Yāḥaqqi composed the song "Kisti” (Who
are you?) for Żarrābi’s inaugural radio performance. About 1957,
Żarrābi was chosen as the honorary member of Radio Tehran Orchestra
Number Seven or Orkestr-e viža (Special orchestra) under the direction
of violinist ʿAbd-Allāh Jahān-panāh (Māleki, pp. 196-97).
Recordings and songs. In 1938, Żarrābi
traveled with musicians Esmāʿil Mehrtāš, Abu’l-Ḥasan Ṣabā, Ḥosaynqoli
Ṭāṭāʾi and singers Jawād Badiʿzāda, Tāj Eṣfahāni, Maleka Ḥekmat-šeʿār
(laer Maleka Honar), and Adib Ḵᵛānsari to Syria and Lebanon to make
recordings (Behruzi, p. 166; Mašḥun, p. 601). Żarrābi’s recordings
include ʿĀšeq-am man (I am in love) for the recording company Odeon, the operetta Ḵosrow o Širin and Ḵod-setāʾi-e Širin (Širin’s
song of self-praise), which she performed with Mehrtāš’s Bārbod
orchestra (Sepantā, p. 178). Among her well-known recorded songs are "Sargašta deldār o ḡām-e hejrān" (The confused beloved and the sorrow of separation), "ʿArus-e gol az bād-e ṣabā" (Flower bride, floating on a gentle breeze), “Doḵtarān-e Sirus” (Cyrus’s daughters), "To rafti o ʿahd-e ḵod šekasti” (You left and broke your promise), "Ey šuḵ, ey negārā” (Oh, playful beloved!), and "Mawsem-e gol" (Flower season; Behruzi, p. 514; Māleki, pp. 197-99; Sepantā, pp. 116, 178).
Bibliography: Šāpur Behruzi, Čehrahā-ye musiqi-e irāni I, Tehran, 1993. Noṣrat-Allāh Ḥāddādi, Farhang-e musiqi-e Irān, Tehran, 1997, pp. 42, 380. Tukā Māleki, Zanān-e musiqi-e Irān, az osṭura tā emruz, Tehran, 2001. Ḥasan Mašḥun, Tāriḵ-e musiqi-e Irān, 2 vols., Tehran, 2001. Sāsān Sepantā, Čašmandāz-e musiqi-e Irān, Tehran, 1990, pp. 116, 178.
(ERIK NAḴJAVĀNI)
January 6, 2005 |