Fatma Mukhtarova

Fatma Sattarovna Mukhtarova was a Soviet opera singer , Honorary Artist of Georgia, and Peoples Artist of Azerbaijan.

Fatma Mukhtarova was born in Urmia, northwestern Persia to a Persian or Iranian Azeri father Abbas Rzayev and a Lipka Tatar mother Sara Hasenewicz. Soon after their daughters birth, the family moved to Russia and settled in RostovonDon. In 1901, Mukhtarovas father, a street singer, died of tuberculosis at the age ofand her mother married organgrinder Sattar Mukhtarov, also an immigrant from Persia. The family lived in very poor conditions and moved from one city in Russia to another until eventually settling in Saratov in 1910. Mukhtarovas mother sent young Fatma to learn from street singers. The girl known as Katya the OrganGrinder now performed publicly dressed in a Ukrainian costume and accompanied by an accordion and a tambourine. It is said that once while singing near a factory, she was noticed by young Lidia Ruslanova who worked there and who was so touched by Mukhtarovas singing that she gave the latter all the money she had on herself.

Source: Wikipedia