Rita (Rita Yahan-Farouz) — pop queen with roots in the Russian Empire
Rita (born Rita Yahan-Farouz) is one of Israel's greatest pop singers of all time. Of Iranian-Jewish heritage, she became Israel's biggest female star and uniquely recorded albums in Hebrew, Persian, and Russian — building a massive audience among Israel's Russian-speaking community.
Tracing the roots — (Iran/Rus Culture)
Rita's decision to record in Russian for the million-plus Russian-speaking Israelis who arrived after 1990 made her a unique cultural bridge. While her heritage is Iranian-Jewish (Mizrahi), her Russian-language albums and her deep popularity among Russian Israelis give her a genuine place in this database.
Born in Iran, but her family spoke Russian/Persian mix (common in Mashhad).
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(Iran/Rus Culture). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.