The Journey from Arkansas

Shani Rigsbee’s journey from the Deep South landed her and her family in the suburbs of Los Angeles where she learned new cultures, recorded in multiple languages and performed in front of thousands of people of diverse ethnicities around the world.

It sounds far fetched that an American woman from Arkansas singing in Farsi would have her music smuggled into Iran in such high demand. Judging from this, it seems that Persian culture has invited Rigsbee in the same way she invited it in. So how did she get here?

“Once I heard the music I always knew this sound would become my own rhythm and melodies,” she says. “[Learning] Farsi wasn’t as hard as I planned it to be. I wrote it as I heard it and learned as a system. The next thing you knew I was singing. Performing was the harder part. But someone told me when I try too hard it shows and just to relax. I have been relaxing ever since.

Rigsbee [who also sings in English, Armenian, Hebrew and Arabic] says it is the people that made it easy to connect. “The values between the cultures are the same. Closeness of family. Honor. Morality. They are all there and so making some changes to your life is only a matter of you. Resistance is what gets people in trouble. An open mind leads to enlightenment”

Even when you are open to change, what more can be done to connect cultures together? “Listen! she says. “Listen to the younger people who integrate together more easily. The older generation is holding onto prejudices, and in some respects, teaching it as well. You have to lead by example and be mindful of the message that you deliver to the world. If it is a good message, it can make a difference.”

Her greatest cross-over came when she began a serious relationship with international artist Andy Madadian. “There was a shock factor when the relationship came out,” she says. “You could see the shift in the way some people found out. They would make remarks and wonder out loud if ‘his family knew.’ On the other hand, Andy’s mom was very welcoming and totally accepting even though she couldn’t even communicate fully with her [as she spoke Farsi exclusively]. He was the first born which carries a very high honor in the family, so if she could be open to me, that’s all that mattered.”

The diversity of their music Rigsbee and Madadian frequently take on tours throughout the U.S. and to Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Australia. The duo have also been featured on Academy Award-winning movies House of Sand, Fog and Crash. Rigsbee isn’t content with the success she has thus far. “I always wanted to create a show. A Vegas show where it would be a true hybrid of East and West and find the right mix to make it successful. Then I would to take it around the world. Paris, Lebanon, Dubai and more.”

“I feel like am the mirror of other international performers. Many Iranian artists want to be Western and I am an American who wanted to be exotic.”