Evin Agassi, celebrated Assyrian singer, dies at 78
Yasmeen Altaji | Sept. 18, 2024
Evin Agassi, the Assyrian American singer revered for his rich contributions to Assyrian musical canon and robust career spanning decades and genres, died Tuesday. He was 78.
Agassi was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July, when his family said he would begin undergoing radiation treatment. In a statement released late Tuesday, the family said the cancer “did not respond”.
“It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we share the news of Evin’s passing,” the statement, posted to Agassi’s official Instagram account by his family, said. “The cancer did not respond to radiation and chemotherapy as we had all hoped and prayed for. We (and hope you all) take solace in knowing that Evin passed away peacefully and pain free.”
Agassi was born in 1945 to an Assyrian family in Kermanshah, Iran, where he began his musical career on Iranian radio. His collaboration with poets and composers, including his own brother, Givargis Agassi, launched what would become his storied path to becoming a household name in Assyrian music.
In 1976, Agassi embarked on a six-month performance tour of Assyrian community hubs across the United States, eventually gaining traction in Australia and back in the Middle East, landing him a place in Assyrian popular culture, at home and in the diaspora. Tours took him to Syria, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Russia and his home country of Iran. He spent the later part of his life in Modesto, Calif., a city surrounded by rich agricultural land and home to a dense Assyrian population.
Throughout his career, Agassi’s music and lyrics lived in the crosshairs of patriotism and poetry, earning both artistic and political praise. According to the biography on his website, Agassi was invited on three different occasions by the Iraqi Minister of Culture to perform in Baghdad — invitations he “respectfully declined” on the assumption that “restrictions and limitations likely would be imposed.”
Agassi’s son, California-born musician and producer Brynner Agassi, owns Agassi Productions, which the family said in Tuesday’s statement will be a tool in assuring Agassi’s legacy “withstands the test of time”.
Agassi is survived by his wife, Julia Agassi; son, Brynner Agassi; daughter, Bianca Agassi Royal; and two brothers, Givargis and David Agassi. The family will hold condolence services at the Mar Zaia Church in Modesto on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 19 and 20.
“Although we are weary from our journey of grief, we are eternally grateful for the outpour of love and prayer. You provided us all with strength in the most difficult of times,” the statement said. “We are certain that Evin is smiling down on us all, as he takes center stage from the heavens above.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include surviving family members and details of condolence services.