The Future is in our Hands: An Interview with Rita

Since the release of her Persian album My Joys in 2011 and her performance at the UN General Assembly in March 2013, Israeli-Iranian pop star Rita Jahan-Farouz has been regarded by many as a cultural ambassador with a chance of bridging the gap between Israel and Iran. Iranwire met her during her recent visit to London as part of her current tour and asked her about her new role, her Persian roots, her hopes for greater openness in Iran.

Can you say what it’s like to seen as a cultural ambassador?

I didn’t mean or plan to be a cultural ambassador. In the beginning, when I released the Persian album, a lot of newspapers and television stations from all over the world were interested. I said, “No, no, leave me alone, I’m not the kind of person that deals with politics. I’m a very simple woman from a very simple place.” I didn’t think I’d be able to do it.  But sometimes, if you refuse to listen to the energy that comes to take you somewhere, it doesn’t work. Now, after the UN, I really don’t think there is any pressure. I’m very privileged to be in such a place. I joke that I have part of me on one side of a wall and part of me the other side, and I would like to connect those two sides of myself.

Your performance at the United Nations General Assembly on 5 March this year met with considerable media attention and celebration. You sang in Persian, Hebrew and English. Can you say a bit about the impact this had at the UN?

After the show, Ron Prosor [Israel’s permanent representative at the UN] told me there were 124 delegations from all over the world there, and that the Iranian delegation had four tickets. So they were there. They were there when I talked in Persian and Hebrew. They were there when I recited Persian poetry as my father used to, when I said in Persian that if one part of you hurts all other parts can’t be in peace.

I had so many reactions from all of the delegations. They say that if you can change what even one or 10 or 100 or 1000 people think, you can move people towards love and get them to understand that, really, there is no quarrel between us. I think I did this in my own way.

On 12 December, you were a special guest speaker at a House of Lords event celebrating women in music. Can you say a little bit about what this event meant for you and what you hoped to achieve?

Women think they should be like men, going in a straight line. I think that we have a very important role, by being women, with what God gave us. We have the compassion and the love and ability to hold everything together. Male energy is important; women’s energy is important. I’m starting to think that maybe women can bring more peace than men can.

And how does that translate to music and artistic expression?

Everyone has their own present from God. If everyone can use their gift to do something good, we can change things. People are a little bit hypnotised by things that the world has taught us. Why do we hate? People taught us: “We hate them; they are bad; they are small, they are ugly.” We are walking around like we are hypnotised. It’s in our hands. God gave us all the instruments to do whatever we choose.

How do you communicate with your fans in Iran? What do they tell you about their lives in Iran?

They communicate through Facebook; they send a lot of emails. Usually I can’t read them by myself so I ask my sisters and they translate. And sometimes I can’t answer them back because my Persian is not very good. Sometimes I call them – it’s great.

I had an interview with an Iranian woman, 25-years-old, and I said: “Isn’t it dangerous that you’re talking with us?” She said, “No, no, I’m using a calling card,” so it can’t be traced. Iranians know how to get in touch with the outside world.

I meet Iranians all the time abroad when I’m outside Israel. Whenever I hear Persian, I go up and say “oh, you’re from Iran!’ And I say, “I’m from Israel,” and everything is okay, we are friends.

I ask them what’s happening. What I hear and what we know is that the economy there is so bad. I think of the amount of money that people are wasting on weapons. Instead, they could invest in children and in people who don’t have anything, making it so parents can raise their children to be stronger and healthier. I want to shout out:  “Wake up, everyone! Wake up! There is so much money in the world that you are wasting on things that we don’t need.” But this is the nature of human beings.

Would you say the same about the Israeli government and their spending on weapons and the military?

Yes. I will tell you though, the Iranian government has said openly that they don’t accept the nation of Israel. And they want to make it vanish. There is a threat around Israel and there are people who strap bombs to their bodies, they’re trying to kill. We are living with a threat. The Holocaust happened. So when a government says, “We want to make you vanish”, we believe them because it already happened; it happened before.

My niece, she was sitting with her husband, having a coffee. There was a bomb; that was it. She left three little children. You see what happened – not only to her and her children and her husband, but to her mother, she cried so much she doesn’t have eyes any more. I mean, it ruins so many people’s lives. If this threat goes, why do people then need to defend themselves? We have so many more important things to do.

Can you say a little about the release of your Persian album, My Joys, and how it was received within Israel?

When I first said I wanted to make a record in Persian, some people thought it was strange, the language has a context of someone who wants to kill us. For many, it’s the language of Ahmadinejad or Khomeini. But when they heard it in another context, well, you know – it was a gold record in Israel in less than a month! For about a year and a half, all of my concerts were in Persian and Hebrew intertwined. And all the blonde Israelis sing along to the Persian songs – it’s amazing.

When I came to Israel [in the early 1970s], being Persian was not “popular”. There were children who were born to a Persian family and they wouldn’t talk to me, so as not to show to the other children that they they were Persian. So it was different then. Israel is a very new country, it’s only 60 years old. So obviously everyone is from all parts of the world. People laugh about the Moroccans, they laugh at the Yemens, they can mock the Russians, and the Iranians. Every culture has their things that are mocked.

There’s an Iranian saying: when you cook different pulses in a pot, they jump out and bubble. Until, after a while, it calms down and it becomes a great stew. I believe that in Israel all the cultures are becoming an amazing stew. 

Can you say a little about the attitudes within Israel in response to the recent Geneva accord?

I can’t tell you about the Israelis; I can’t. I can tell you what I feel. In Arabic they say, “throw your heart forward and go and fetch it”. Some say it’s only a trick. Some say it’s going in a better direction. I want to believe that soon something will happen. Something will happen because people want real freedom in the way they live, not for someone to force them to live a certain way.  And 70 or 80 per cent of the Iranian people are young. They’re young and they want to live openly.

What is the feeling in Israel about the election of President Hassan Rouhani in June? Are people hopeful or sceptical? What is the feeling among your family and friends?

No, we don’t talk about it. There needs to be a real election. I don’t know, really I don’t know. I want to believe.

Do you have connections with other Iranian singers from the Iranian diaspora?

There is one musician, I sing his songs. He is amazing and I would really like to do something with him, but it’s forbidden because, although he lives in the United States, he goes to Iran too. We can’t record a duet. I can’t tell you his name because I don’t want put him in danger.

I’ve thought of asking the UN for me to go to Iran and play a concert. The Israeli government could use me so much more, for good, to make contacts with Iran, to talk to people. I know that the Iranian government sees my interviews; they are in touch with the world. It’s difficult, but they are.

I have an Israeli friend who works with Persian art. She was at the Biennale in Venice in November. My CD was playing at the exhibition and there were Muslims from Iran, Israelis and Iraqis, standing and talking. And she wrote to me and said: “You see, Iran, Iraq and Israel, we are from all these places, we are listening to your music. See what music can do.” It gives me goosebumps to think about.

Do you ever find it uncomfortable or difficult being seen as a spokesperson for Israel? How do you respond when people ask about Israel's relationship with Palestine, about treatment of Palestinians, about illegal settlements? Have you been challenged over Israel’s stance when it comes to politics and its human rights record?

The Palestinian and Israeli problem began much before I was born, and, very sadly, I think it will continue until after I have gone. There are so many problems. I think it is much more difficult to solve.

Remember Egypt’s Anwar Sadat? One day we were enemies and the next day, he came and said, “Now, peace”. And sometimes it depends on one person and what he says, and suddenly it changes. And I really hope that people from each side won’t teach the children of the future the hate and the things that they have learned. All of us – the Israelis, the Palestinians – we are in a very, very complicated situation. Because you build trust, and then something happens. Hisbollah or another group – they do something to stop the peace process. I hope someone will rise from both sides and something will happen. It takes two to tango.

But Iranians and Israelis have no border, nothing at all, no conflict between us. The Jews and the Iranians were in a good friendly relationship for 2,500 years. And I think that if all countries that talk hatred stop, something good will happen with us, with the Israelis and the Palestinians too. It’s time.