| SusieJ 30.01.2004 11:15 |
Hi, does anyone know anything about Freddie's Indian roots. I know that he spent a part of his life in India (boarding school), and I know that his birth certificate states him as being as "Indian" in the nationality category. I am curious as to know if Freddie could speak any of the Indian languages, or celebrated any Indian festivals etc? How "Indian" was he off the stage? Does anyone have any information on this??? I would love to know... thanks. |
| SusieJ 30.01.2004 11:35 |
come on... someone's gotta know something!!! |
| wstüssyb 30.01.2004 11:37 |
give it a day, that how long most topics need before being filled. |
| Penetration_Guru 30.01.2004 11:52 |
WUM |
| SusieJ 30.01.2004 11:59 |
yes... i've seen it online. here it is: link and it states that his nationality was "indian". |
| SusieJ 30.01.2004 14:23 |
come on... someone's gotta know something! :) |
| Brandon 30.01.2004 14:40 |
Hmm... A bit impatient, aren't we? |
| FriedChicken 31.01.2004 10:33 |
Freddie turned his back on his roots, India, Zanzibar and the traditional religion |
| FM 01.02.2004 08:50 |
I do believe Freddie spoke his Indian language--I'm not sure of the spelling of it though. It was written about in the Defintive Biography, and also in Mercury, the Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, Freddie as Farouck does indeed speak his own language. His family followed the Zoroastrian (sp.?) religion, but as an adult, Freddie did not adhere to his religion. |
| MenthylatedGin 01.02.2004 11:57 |
I believe Freddie spoke Farsi...and his mother was Indian, but his father was american...and they lived in Zanzibar for a bit and moved to England. I think as a family, they didn't pressure Freddie to be Zoritsian how however you spell it...Well, to answer your question, he wasn't very Indian, except for his race. |
| Sonja 01.02.2004 12:29 |
I don't know if he spoke Farsi, all I know is that his parents were Zoroastrians, Parsis who emigrated to India. If you want to read something about Zoroastrian, here's a link link |
| FM 01.02.2004 14:28 |
No, the father was definitly Indian as well--Bomi Bulsari, born in India. The family moved to Zanzibar, but Freddie was educated in an English boarding school (St. Peter's) in Panchgani, India from the age of 8 to 16 when the family then moved to England. |
| Sonja 01.02.2004 14:30 |
Yes, you're right, sorry about that. So if he was educated English from the age of 8 he must have kept a bit of the Indian laguage that he probably spoke before he went to school... |
| Rich Tea 01.02.2004 16:06 |
I think a big clue is in the phrasing of the Mustapha lyrics! |
| SallyJ. 01.02.2004 16:11 |
oh no....not that again! *deja vu* |
| Brandon 01.02.2004 23:34 |
Zanzibar and the UK were the opposing factions in the world's shortest war (Zanzibar surrendered in less than an hour). Don't ask me how I remembered that! (The time I Googled.) |
| SusieJ 02.02.2004 11:45 |
God must have been listening to me. Him, or Freddie himself. I swear to God, this is true.... On the weekend I went to the dentist to get a root canal (ouch). My dentist's name is Dr. Hendricks. I was joking with him, asking him if he was related to "Jimmy" (Hendrix). He was laughing and saying... "yeah". Anyway, we started talking about music. My dentist, I always thought, was west Indian. He corrected me, and said that he was East Indian (which was a surprise to me). He said that he was from a small town near Bombay. I was like "you know know else is from near Bombay... Freddie Mercury". Before I could get "Mercury" out of my mouth, he corrected me and said "you mean Farook Bulsara.... I went to school with him". I nearly fell out of the dentists chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in total shock.... actually meeting someone who knew Freddie!!!!! Obviously, my first question was "could Freddie speak any of the indian languages, hindi???". He replied by saying, that although it was a catholic school that they went to, British run, most of the kids could speak Hindi.... including Freddie. It wasn't their first language, but they could speak it because when they left the school, they would have to be able to speak it to communicate with the environment around them. My dentist had some cool stories about Freddie... stuff that you would never be able to read about. I'm still reeling. I can't believe that this happened to me this weekend. I guess my question has been answered. Freddie's watching over me |
| queenrox 02.02.2004 12:13 |
you cant just leave it like that!! lol so what else did you ask your dentist?? |
| Sonja 02.02.2004 12:18 |
Yeah let the stories come!!!! Now here's finally someone so lucky to meet someone who knew Freddie, now you gotta tell us more!!! |
| SusieJ 02.02.2004 12:24 |
He said that he didn't remember too much about him because it was so long ago, and Freddie was a couple of years older than him. He did tell me that on saturday nights, everyone in the school would come to the main auditorium, and they would sing and play instruments etc. he said that even back then, Freddie stole the show. That everyone would want Freddie to sing. he said that he was pretty bright in school, and that he was pretty popular. he said that if you go back to the school now, if you check out the yearbooks with the students pictures etc in them, all the pages that would have had Freddie on them, they have been torn out. he didn't keep in contact with freddie after he left school. freddie moved to the uk, and my dentist moved here, canada (toronto). he did say that in the 70's he went to see queen in concert here. he didn't realise that freddie was the lead singer of queen until he saw an article on freddie stating that his real name was Farook Bulsara... and then he made the connection. other than that, he told me about the school teachers... and how rough they were on the students..... |
| MexQueenFM 02.02.2004 12:29 |
interesting, thanks |
| queenrox 02.02.2004 12:52 |
i might be being really blonde here , but why were the pages with freddie on torn out?? harsh teachaers hay? i kno bout that!! |
| SusieJ 02.02.2004 12:59 |
he was saying that people/fans, over the years, tore out the pages as keepsakes of freddies. it wasn't the teachers that did it, it was people who visited the school over the years and wanted a piece of freddies past i suppose. |
| queenrox 02.02.2004 13:06 |
ooo thats such a pity though , ah for a second i thought ya meant that the teachers or whoever had taken them out for some reason , |
| nazila queena 02.02.2004 14:02 |
when Freddie was born ,his parents called Farokh,(cause they were Zoroastrian & persian root)but people of their side spoke English and they couldn't to pronounce FAROKH!!so Freddie's parents change his name immidatly to FREDRICH. when Freddie went to school ,his friends called him ;FREDDIE. little by little Freddie's family called him Freddie! Freddie 's parents have persian root. not indian ,not american! It's a evident topic. of course that the lyrics of MUSTAFA isn't persian languge. I tell you this truth cause I'm a persian person!! in addition I really don't know Freddie knows persian languge!!also his parents! they just have persian root. one of the Freddie's relationship is Kioomars Bulsara that he is a histroian and his books is in Iran . but I think Freddie's family migrate from Iran many years ago.(before Freddie was born). I forget to say; FAROKH is a persian name. |
| nazila queena 02.02.2004 14:35 |
hey, ...I forget to tell ;Freddie'school was in Panchgani [distance to bambaee 50 miles]. also Freddie was favourites in his school & his teachers discovery his talent then ask from his parents to pay more money to teach piano to Freddie.{oh...this was lovely). Freddie's parents accepted. Freddie began to learn piano & he improve too fast!! he has talent for music, his teachers said. suddenly ;he got IV grade in teory and also in practical. &,...... ..... ..... till Freddie be famuse and ...... now we love him so much for everlasting! isn't it?? |
| SusieJ 02.02.2004 14:49 |
*sigh*. I really wish people would check their facts before they post replies. Let me first state that Freddie WAS INDIAN, and was of PERSIAN DECENT. His ancestry was, certainly, from Iran. However, he was a Parsi/Zorastrian, which meant that his ancestry escaped from Iran to India because of Mogul persecution. Parsi's have lived in India for thousands of years. They are an integral part of south india, mainly bombay. His birth certificate states what he is INDIAN (link. Both of Freddie's parents were born in India. After his death, his mother travelled India with artwork depicting his life. His parents DID NOT name him FREDRICH. He never claimed that name. It was Freddie, and Freddie only. That was the name his school mates gave him... not because they couldn't pronouce "Farookh", but just as a nick name in general. Farookh is also an Islamic name... and huge portion of India is Muslim. Of course they could pronouce it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Freddie lived in India until he was 18 years old, and spent summers in Zanzibar where is father was stationed. Not uncommon for many indians of that time (not to mention today). Freddie was Indian, of persian decent (albeit, perhaps 1000 years ago). In India, peopld generally marry thier "own kind". sikhs marry sikhs, hindus marry hindus, jains marry jains... etc. Parsis marry parsis. that his how his bloodline stayed parsi, and that is why he called himself such. I know this because not only I am of Indian decent, but also because I've done my research. Maybe you should do yours too. Take a look at these websites, and tell me that I am wrong: link link link link link |
| SusieJ 02.02.2004 15:01 |
It's BOMBAY. And Bombay, my friend, is in India. |
| FM 02.02.2004 15:38 |
Freddie was born in Zanzibar, sent to St. Peter's Boarding School in Panchgani, India at the age of 7/8 until the age of 16, after having failed out of St. Peter's (why? no one seems to have answers about this as he was always a good student up to this point). The family then returned to Zanzibar where he finished his last two years of school in a catholic school, St. Joseph's, I believe. Then the family, having to move because of the revolution, decided on England rather than going to India, at Freddie's insistence. There he spent one year at Iselworth School before enrolling in Ealing Art School. The rest is history. Yes, the parents are both Indian. |
| SusieJ 02.02.2004 15:53 |
Further... yes, Freddie was born in Zanzibar. A lot of Indian people were/are born in the African sub continent. Half of my family is from Africa, but originally from India. Freddie never called himself as an "indian" because at the time, to be "indian" and live in the UK was a minus... which is still the case today. He was the only "indian" of that time to be making popular music. That is why he called himself Persian (which, perhaps he thought was more "exotic")when asked where his roots were.... which isn't entirely false, but certainly wasn't the whole truth. Remember, in the 70's, India was only free from British rule (August 1947) for 20 odd years. They were still looked at as being "less than" or "formally owned". |
| FM 02.02.2004 16:36 |
I only ever remember Freddie calling himself English, to be honest. I don't think he ever confessed to being Indian, Persian or anything other than English. I think that all really came out after his death. He would say, only after being asked, that he was born in Zanzibar and raised in India all because of his father's position with the British government. They were stationed there. And, some people that I know who have gone to school with Freddie said that he always was fascinated, even as a school boy, with England and always would consider himself more English than anything else. |
| nazila queena 03.02.2004 13:23 |
ha ha!!IT 'S laughable.!!!!! I 'm from Iran and I know with clearness that FROOKH isn't a islamic name. I don't know who believe it!!! and insist to this(that FAROOKH is a islamic name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) this is ridiculous!! this name is one of the ancient persian name . sorry , I think I never should to argue about this topic! but I just to think ,I can help somebody if he or her wants to know more thing about Freddie but now see i do a mistake. I'm worry , .....I should knew that if somebody is a real fan of QUEEN he/she know this obvious topics & other topic of QUEEN. ............. anyway,... if somebody want ,he /she can think about this ,with his/her attachment. |
| SusieJ 03.02.2004 14:50 |
*sigh* *sigh* *sigh* Before you launch your attack, you should REALLY check YOUR FACTS. Please, read back in the string. I DID NOT SAY THAT FAROOKH IS SOLELY AN ISLAMIC NAME. I said that it is ALSO AN ISLAMIC NAME. It is a Persian name, yes, but a lot of Muslims go by that name as well. I think it's YOU that needs to be educated. "Farookh" is ALSO an Islamic name, (Take a look: link and link, and it means "a good judge". I know Muslim people with that name. I know for a fact that people in India (where there are millions of Muslims) would NOT have a problem with pronouncing that name. I DID NOT SAY FREDDIE WAS A MUSLIM. I know he wasn't. Everybody knows he wasn't. His parents followed the Zoroastrian faith, and although he was born as such, he never held on to this religion. So speaking of TRUE FANS. I'm not here to judge... but someone who states that they are a TRUE FAN, should really know more about their hero. You should really broaden your horizons too. Do some research before you speak. |
| rhapsody__87 03.02.2004 14:56 |
yes, to nazila queena... can you cut down on the exclamation points? i feel as though i am being screamed at and i can't figure out why... |
| The Mir@cle 03.02.2004 16:10 |
Tip: Watch "The Untold Story" and a lot of your questions will be answered. |
| SusieJ 04.02.2004 11:51 |
I've seen it. Unfortunately, it didn't reveal anything that I deeply wanted to know. Freddie was very quiet about his personal life, especially about his indian side. I think that people who have written about him, that were close to him, are either reluctant to speak/write about it (carrying on the pattern of freddie), or have little knowledge of it because Freddie never spoke about it. God, if only I could meet his sister Kash :) |
| SallyJ. 04.02.2004 17:42 |
...or maybe they respect freddie's wish to at least have SOME privacy. |
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