AIDA SHAHGHASEMI

Aida, initially a Daf player, studied with Amir Samadi in Tehran, Iran. She moved from Tehran to Minneapolis in summer of 2000. One unsuspecting summer day back in Tehran, she was pushed to sing on stage by Samadi, and she fell in love with it ever since. Her passion for Persian classical music stems from the cultural identity she craved after immigrating, and the women she met during her years of study.

Aida’s senior project at University of Minnesota’s Anthropology Department centered around restrictions on the voices of female classical vocalists in Iran, through which she met, interviewed, and studied with Parissa for a short period of 3 months.

While residing in NYC, Aida worked with a few non-profit organizations as a teaching artist promoting the arts as a tool for social justice. She created and taught a class called Iran’s Arts Activism centered around the effects of society on art and vise versa, at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has worked with different artists internationally and is grateful for their generosity with creative space.

Aida currently has a little home in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. She has made a community with Pangea World Theater as a development associate and ensemble member. She loves her patch of basil in the yard and the 3 minute walk from her home to the Mississippi. She makes darn good Ma’joon.