Galeet and Danielle Dardashti share the story of their Persian Jewish family through words and music. First up, Galeet’s multi-sensory Monajat, which reinvents religious poetry through a soundscape of original music, will be performed for this first time in Los Angeles. Then, Galeet will be joined by her sister Danielle to discuss their acclaimed podcast, The Nightingale of Iran, which tells the story of their famed grandfather, Younes Dardashti.
This is a past program
This program took place on
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
About the Program
Monajat is Galeet Dardashti’s powerful album of original compositions featuring her singing with remixed samples of her grandfather, Younes Dardashti—one of Iran’s most famous singers in the 1950s and 60s and a devout Jew. In this live concert, Galeet reinvents the ritual of Selihot with a soundscape of original music performed with an acclaimed ensemble of Middle Eastern and jazz musicians and vivid video art enveloping the audience.
The Nightingale of Iran is a hit audio documentary created by sisters Danielle Dardashti and Galeet Dardashti, telling the story of their famous Persian Jewish family. Danielle is the host, writer, and director. Galeet is the musical director, producer, and subject matter expert. In this live multi-media presentation, Danielle and Galeet share behind-the-scenes stories, songs, and clips from their critically acclaimed series.
Q&A moderated by Tabby Refael, columnist, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
About the Participants
Dr. Galeet Dardashti is a musician/composer, anthropologist, and culture creator. She has earned a reputation as a trailblazing performer, educator, and advocate for Middle Eastern and North African Jewish culture. Galeet is widely known as the leader/founder of the renowned all-woman powerhouse Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewish ensemble, Divahn, and for her nationally acclaimed solo release, The Naming. In her new, award-winning release, Monajat, Galeet remixes samples of her famed Iranian grandfather’s recordings to create an original soundscape. Time Out New York has described her music as “urgent, heartfelt, and hypnotic.” The Huffington Post called it “heart-stopping.” As a scholar, Galeet specializes in Mizrahi music, media, and cultural politics. She has held Assistant Professor positions at NYU and JTS and is currently a Fellow at University of Pennsylvania. She offers scholar/artist-in-residencies, lectures, and workshops on her academic and artistic work throughout North America and beyond.
Danielle Dardashti is a storyteller, documentarian, and author. She leads corporate storytelling workshops all over the world, and helps companies tell their stories through impactful films and podcasts. Danielle's clients include companies like Pfizer, Marriott, and Intel. She is an Emmy Award-winning documentarian who has written and produced six TV documentaries for Discovery and other networks. Danielle spent the first decade of her career as an on-air news reporter at TV stations in Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia. She is a Moth StorySLAM champion who has been featured on NPR’s Moth Radio Hour. Danielle and her husband are co-authors of The Jewish Family Fun Book (Jewish Lights publishing) and she is the co-founder and creative director of the live storytelling show StoryBOOM. Danielle was a fellow in the Maimonides Fund’s 2022-2023 cohort of The Digital Storytellers Lab (part of the Jewish Writers’ Initiative), where she developed the pilot and trailer for The Nightingale of Iran.
Danielle and Galeet are co-creators and co-executive producers of The Nightingale of Iran. The six-episode series was released in March 2024 and has already been recognized as Best Podcast of 2024 by The Quill Podcast Awards, as well as Best Society and Culture Podcast of 2024. It was an official selection of the June 2024 Tribeca Festival Creators Market. Danielle & Galeet were also included by the New York Jewish Week as 2024 “36 to Watch” honorees.
Tabby Refael is a weekly editorial columnist for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, as well as a contributor to Newsweek, Los Angeles magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books and other publications. Tabby served as co-founder and former executive director of 30 Years After, a non-partisan, non-profit that promotes the participation and leadership of Iranian-American Jews in American civic, political, and Jewish life. Named "a prominent chronicler of Persian L.A." by the Los Angeles Times, Tabby was born in post-revolutionary Iran and came to the U.S. as a refugee and child survivor of the Iran-Iraq War in the late 1980s. She holds a Master’s in Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Bachelor of Communication from University of California, San Diego.
Monajat and The Nightingale of Iran is co-presented by the USC Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life.
Promotional Partners
HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project
IKAR
