Galeet Dardashti
As vocalist, composer, anthropologist, and producer, Galeet Dardashti has earned a reputation as a trail-blazing performer and advocate for Middle Eastern and North African Jewish culture. Dardashti is the first woman to continue her family’s tradition of distinguished Persian and Jewish musicianship.
Dardashti is widely known as leader/founder of the renowned all-woman powerhouse Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewish ensemble Divahn, which released its most recent album, “Shalhevet,” in 2020. According to the Jerusalem Report, Dardashti’s “sultry delivery spans international styles and clings to listeners long after the last round of applause.” Dardashti’s nationally acclaimed release, The Naming, musically interprets some of the compelling women of the Bible. Time Out New York described The Naming as “urgent, heartfelt and hypnotic;” The Huffington Post called it “heart-stopping.”
Dardashti’s new award-winning (Global Music Award) multi-sensory project and album, Monajat, is inspired by old and haunting recordings of the Jewish prayers of Selichot chanted by her famed Persian grandfather, Younes Dardashti. Galeet reinvents the ancient ritual by singing with remixed samples of her grandfather's legacy recordings and composing a soundscape of original music performed by an acclaimed ensemble of Middle Eastern and jazz musicians and accompanied by dynamic video art.
In The Nightingale of Iran—the new hit documentary podcast series Dardashti co-created and co-produced with her sister, Danielle Dardashti, the sisters explore their family history—including the story of their Iranian grandfather, known as “The Nightingale of Iran.” Their journey reveals painful secrets unspoken for generations.
Dardashti also has over two decades of cantorial experience with varied communities. This past year she lead High Holidays with Kanisse in Manhattan—one of the first egalitarian Sephardi/Mizrahi communities in the country.
As a scholar, Dardashti holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and specializes in Mizrahi culture and music; her current book project explores the Mizrahi piyyut (sacred song) phenomenon in contemporary Israel. She has held Assistant Professor positions at New York University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Dardashti is currently a Fellow at University of Pennsylvania’s Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. Dardashti offers scholar/artist-in-residencies, lectures, and workshops on her academic and artistic work throughout North America and beyond.