Merikhi's Women: The Queen of Persian Music

Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri, commonly known as "Qamar" was a celebrated Iranian singer, who was also the first woman of her time to sing in public in Iran without wearing a Hijab. She is known as "the Queen of Persian music".

Singing with the vocal range of a mezzo-soprano, she was revered for her mastery of the repertoire of Persian vocal music, especially her sensitive rendition of tasnif and tarâna.

She began her career in singing at age 19 in 1924 when she performed at the Grand Hotel in Tehran. When she performed she was among men and without the veil. During another performance at the Palace Theater in Tehran, again without the veil, she was accompanied by Morteza Neidavoud (an Iranian great music master), who she had met when she was 16, just a few years earlier.

I have digitally lithographed the character of this impressive woman to be included in my women's collection.