Episode 2 - Singing in the Dark

Danielle and Galeet's grandfather Younes Dardashti grew up an orphan in Tehran's Jewish ghetto. He was gifted with a gorgeous voice, but had a difficult childhood. He lived with an abusive uncle who forbade him from singing. In his late teens, he left his uncle's house, got a job with the Iranian Railroad and, years later, he married Houri Aziz-Zadeh. In the 1940s, life changed rapidly for the Jews of Iran - a new Shah granted equal rights to Jews, women, and other marginalized groups. Jews could move out of the ghetto into neighborhoods integrated with Muslims. One night, Younes found himself at a party attended by Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri, a famous female Muslim singer. Suddenly, the power went out. And in the dark and quiet, Younes started to sing. This was the moment that everything changed, and he became The Nightingale of Iran.

Co-creators / Co-executive producers - Danielle Dardashti and Galeet Dardashti

The Nightingale of Iran - nightingaleofiran.com

Presented by The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a publication of 70 Faces Media

Host - Danielle Dardashti

Writer / Director / Senior Producer - Danielle Dardashti

Producer / Musical Director / Subject Matter Expert - Galeet Dardashti

Audio Editors / Sound Designers - Rebecca Seidel and Zachary Goldberg

Story Editor - Rider Alsop

Story Consultant - Asal Ehsanipour

Composer of Theme Song - Galeet Dardashti: "Melekh" from her album Monajat, featuring Younes Dardashti (with Shanir Blumenkranz, Max ZT, Zafer Tawil, Philip Mayer)

In Episode 2, Singing in The Dark, you heard our conversations with: Farid Dardashti, Habib Partow, Schelly Dardashti, Houman Sarshar, Laura Younai, Rachel Nazarian Ehsagpour, Haideh Herbert. Alan Niku interviewed Manucher Bibiyan.

Thank you to our sponsors:

-Jewish Writers' Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab / Maimonides Fund

-Common Era

-Younes and Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation

-The Himan Brown Charitable Trust

-Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

-UCLA Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music

-Be'chol Lashon (fiscal sponsor)

Dedication: This is for you Dadders!!! We love you (and Mommy) so much!!!! xox

We are so grateful for: our extraordinary husbands, Roni Sarig and Mason Weisz, who have contributed in countless ways big and small; Danielle's amazing kids, Uri Dardashti Sarig and Raquel Dardashti Sarig, who lent their talents in story editing, sound capture, episode cover art design, and more; and Galeet's kids -Yaniv and Adin- for being such incredible humans.

There are so many people we want to thank for their love, guidance, support, and inspiration on this project: Houri & Younes Dardashti, Millie & Louie Heifetz, Michelle Dardashti, Yadid Dardashti, Shahnaze Dardashti, Hamid Dardashti, Louise Motevassel, David Dardashti, Niloo Dardashti, Schelly Dardashti, Jina Aziz-Zadeh, Dawne Bear Novicoff, Vicki Compter Lefkowitz, Jeni Friedman, Rebecca Friedman, Rebecca Guber, Debbie Kolben, Ami Eden, Caleb Guedes Reed, Sharon Nazarian, Jessamyn Rodriguez, Yonah Schiller, Richard Kay, Mark Klingman, Sarah Lefton, Janine Okmin, Arielle Nissenblatt, Ilana Nevins, Lior Sternfeld, Edwin Seroussi, Mohsen Mohammadi, Hasan Sarbakhshian, Sierra Ulrich, David Shofet, Sarah Benor and Hadas Bram.

Intro credits read by: Michelle Dardashti

Cover art design: Ghulam Nabi

Assistants: Courtney Cunningham & Jessica DeWeese

Marketing / PR: Tink

Distributed by PRX, the Public Media Exchange