Eftekhar Dadehbala (November 16, 1946 – June 25, 2007), known by her stage name Mahasti, was an Iranian singer of Persian classical, folk, and pop music with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. She was active for more than four decades. She was the younger sister of prominent singer Hayedeh.
Early life and career
Mahasti (left) and Hayedeh, leaping over a fire at Chaharshanbe Suri in 1975.
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.[citation needed]
Mahasti created an image of a "gentle-woman" singer, a " lady with great manners" . Her success in music paved the way for many other women, including her elder sister, Hayedeh, who started her work 5 years after Mahasti. The two sisters contributed to improving the image of female singers in Iran and the evolution of Iranian popular music.
In 1979, before the Iranian Revolution. she emigrated to the United Kingdom, and then to the United States in 1981, where she lived thereafter.[citation needed]
In March 2007, Mahasti publicly announced that she had had colon cancer for four years. She hoped that her experience would raise awareness within the Iranian community regarding cancer and the importance of regular physical examinations. She was then living in Santa Rosa, California, with her daughter, Sahar, her son-in-law, Naser, and their two children, Natasha and Natalie, her only grandchildren. She died on June 25, 2007, aged 60, in Santa Rosa.[citation needed]
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
Parandeye Mohajer (1981)
Eyde Shoma Mobarak (1982) with Sattar & Manoucher Cheshmazar
Moj (1983)
Yeki Ra Doost Midaram (1983) with Hayedeh & Houshmand Aghili
In May 2023, 16 years after she died, her voice was used by artificial intelligence and placed on Shadmehr Aghili's song Tamasha, sparking quite a bit of interest from music fans because of the sense of nostalgia and futurism the song provides at the same time. Soon many more pothumous songs were released that featured her and her iconic voice.
