R
obert Bet Sayad, an Assyrian singer and songwriter who fled Iran with his family during the budding Islamic Revolution and went on to pen nationalist and love ballads such as “Qala d’Yimma” and “Leven Moonshiyakh,” died on May 26. He was 72.
Born in Abadan in 1952, Bet Sayad grew up in Tehran, where he attended boarding school alongside prominent families, including royals and political elites. His daughter, Donatela Bet Sayad, said he remained lifelong friends with the son of the Shah.
As a teenager, Bet Sayad began singing casually with friends. One night, after filling in for an absent lead vocalist at a friend’s performance, he impressed the crowd enough to continue with the band. Soon he was performing at weddings, parties, and charity events across the capital, raising funds for churches and civic organizations.
His first album “Urmie” was released in 1976 — the same year he married his wife, Shamiran.
Bet Sayad toured the United States in 1983. During his visit, the Islamic Revolution intensified, the U.S. halted visas and refugee admissions from Iran, and musicians increasingly became targets of the revolutionaries. On a tourist visa at the time, he refused to return to Tehran and set about bringing his wife and children to the U.S.
The family arranged to meet in Turkey. His wife and children booked flights to England with a layover in Istanbul, scrapping the second leg of their trip. At the U.S. Embassy, Donatela recalls an official at first denying their request before shaking his head no and saying all refugees are cut off — and at the same time stamping visas into their passports.
“It was divine intervention,” she said.
The family arrived in Chicago during winter, but after Bet Sayad’s infant son developed pneumonia, they relocated to Modesto, California, to be near his father and mother.
Deeply religious and fiercely nationalist, the family regularly attended church and bible studies, enrolled the children in Assyrian language classes, and insisted on socializing with other Assyrian families.
“We weren’t allowed to speak English at home,” Donatela said. “Robert believed that it’s up to young people to carry out this mission of procreating and saving our heritage. That’s why he wrote, ‘Yuma.’’”
Also called “Qala d’Yimma”, the song urges Assyrians not to abandon their homeland and to free “Mother Assyria from her shackles.”
In it, Bet Sayad sings, “Whoever doesn’t fight for their rights, whoever doesn’t demand their home, who is going to cry for you?”
“She’s screaming, my sons, my sons, I’m dying, come rescue me. Foreigners are surrounding me, I need my own fruits. The skies are saying, ‘you’re brutal, your mother is begging you and without even seeing you, she’s about to deliver herself.’”
In California, Bet Sayad continued writing and performing. Donatela remembers him spending days at a time in his music studio writing and rehearsing.
“He would lay on the ground in our home and on a pillow and write in his notebook and tap his fingers,” she said.
His influence on modern Assyrian musicians was profound.
“I recall the first concert when I heard you singing the legendary song, ‘Yemma,’” singer-songwriter Linda George wrote on Facebook. “I was utterly moved not only by your unmatchable voice, but with the passionate patriotic emotions you delivered for our beloved Assyrian nation.”
Over his career, Bet Sayad produced 15 albums.
He is survived by his wife Shamiran, daughters Donatela and Domarina, son Johny, and three grandchildren Shamiran, Johnny, and Bruneil.
A funeral service was held June 3 in Turlock.
