Sussan Deyhim

Sussan Deyhim is an Iranian vocalist, composer, performance artist, and activist based in southern California. In 1971, at the age of thirteen, Deyhim joined the Pars National Ballet in Iran and toured across Iran, studying with masters of folk music and dance for several years. In 1976, Deyhim travelled on a scholarship to Europe to attend the dancer, choreographer, and opera director Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School of performing arts, where she gained classical training and studied myriad world music, dance, and theater traditions. Deyhim moved to New York City in 1980, where she began to incorporate new media and film into her work, and became known for the unique quality of her voice that incorporated elements of her ancient heritage. In 1981, she began her long-time collaboration with the composer and multi-instrumentalist Richard Horowitz, beginning with “Desert Equations: Azax Attra,” a music and dance performance that took place at the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, and went on to performances at Carnegie Hall in 1985. Deyhim has released several solo recordings and also collaborated with a range of musicians, artists, and composers, including Ornette Coleman, Peter Gabriel, Sophie Calle, and Shirin Neshat, resulting in a body of work that includes avant garde media operas, multimedia installations, and music for film and television. Deyhim performed at The Kitchen in 2001 as part of Logic of the Birds, a multimedia collaboration between Deyhim and three other Iranian-born artists: the visual artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat, the filmmaker Ghasem Ebrahimian, and the writer and filmmaker Shoja Azari. For more information visit: http://sussandeyhim.com/