From Persia With Love
Monika Jalili
Several years ago I was introduced to a beautiful Persian folk song, “Jaan-e Maryam,”a song about love..a song about yearning..a song about hope. The song was written during the years preceding the Iranian Revolution of 1979. When I heard it for the first time...the angelic voice of its original singer, Mohammad Nouri, the music, the poetry...I was hooked. This was the song that changed my life. And so began my journey of Persian music and sharing these heartfelt songs with the world.
As an American of Dutch/German heritage, married to an Iranian, immersing myself in the Persian culture was an act of love for me. I fell in love with songs that were from the 1950s to 1970s, a time when life was very different in Iran... a time of strong western influence.
It was always my hope that while sharing this beautiful music and poetry of Iran, I would be narrowing, and perhaps even bridging, the gap between Iran and the West. With songs about love and hope, the universality of their message goes way beyond language and culture. It is what brings us closer together
About the Artists
Monika Jalili
Iran…1950s-1970s…poetic songs popularized on radio and in films…then completely banned in 1979 at the time of the Iranian Revolution. Great poets and composers were forbidden to express themselves in a culture where poetry and music had always been so deeply ingrained.
Infused with new blood, new instrumentations, new arrangements, and love, these are the songs that Monika Jalili has awakened and brought back to life.
Born and raised in New York City, and a graduate of The Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University, and now based in Salt Lake City, Monika’s music career began in the world of musical theatre…..Broadway, Off-Broadway and touring with musicals around the US. That is how she had always envisioned her career to be...until one fortuitous mid-summer day in 2004, when she heard a Persian song from the 1950s entitled “Jaan-e Maryam.” This was the song that changed her life. And so began her journey..
Performances include the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, United States Naval Academy, The Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington D.C., Libby Gardner Hall with the Utah Philharmonia Orchestra, Gallivan Center, and sold-out concerts at the Place des Arts in Montreal with The Montreal Symphony Orchestra.