Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,2 mins

Iranian pop star Gola: 'We had morality police in the audience'

The Arts Hour

Available for over a year

Gola is an Iranian musician and singer who wanted to be a professional pop singer. She became a member of Iran’s only girl band Orchid/Orkideh but because of the Iranian regime’s strict rules on performing and singing, the band were only allowed to perform to women in a closed-off area. Eventually Gola decided the only way she could pursue a pop career was to leave Iran. She now lives in the UK and has just released her first single in English – she’s been speaking to the BBC’s Nikki Bedi. (Photo shows: Gola. Photo credit: Henry Hewitt)

Programme Website
More episodes