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Darvish Khan
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Darvish Khan or Gholam Hossein Darvish was born in 1872 in Tehran and died in 1926. He is known as Darvish Khan because his father has called him Darvish since childhood. He got his first music lesson from his father, then joined the Dar ul-Funun of music and learned Setar, Tar, and Radif from Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani, becoming his best student. During his life, Darvish Khan significantly influenced Persian classical music by teaching great musicians and setar and tar players such as Morteza Neydavoud, Abolhasan Saba, Mousa Maroufi, Nur-Ali Borumand, Arsalan Dargahi, and Sa'id Hormozi (Saeed Hormozi). Darvish Khan also added a sixth string to the Tar, which led to many different tunings for this instrument. Many masterpieces from Darvish Khan remained popular among musicians and Tar and Setar players, consisting of many Tasnifs, Pishdaramads, Rengs, and Chahar Mezrabs. He is known as the leading Pishdramad developer in Radif. His personal life had many ups and downs. He had many charity activities and political actions for freedom, especially when working with Aref Ghazvini. Unfortunately, Darvish Khan died in a car accident (the first car accident death in Iran) in Tehran when he was 54 years old.
Chaharmezrab of Mahur by Darvish Khan, played by Mohammad-Reza Lotfi and Naser Farhangfar
Parychehr and Parizad song composed by Darvish Khan, played by Golha orchestra
Delkash
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Esmat Bagherpour Baboli (Delkash) was born in Babol in 1924 and died in 2004. Her talent for singing was evident from childhood. Delkash's father died when she was twelve, and financial problems forced her mother to send Delash to her sister's home in Tehran. In Tehran, she went to school, and when she was in the 5th grade of elementary school, her talent for singing was discovered by her music teacher (Zahiroldini). She approved to join the radio and met Ruhollah Khaleqi. With the advice of Ruhollah Khaleqi, she learned to sing Radif from Abdolali Vaziri. She named as Delkash by Ruhollah Khaleqi. At twenty, Delash started singing on the radio, and her cooperation with Ali Tajvidi, Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi, Mehdi Khaledi, Esmaeil Navab Safa, and Parviz Yahaghi led to the golden age of her work. Delkash is one of the most prized and famous singers of Persian classical music.
The Tasnif of Ashofteh composed by Parviz Yahaghi
singer: Delkash
The Tasnif of Bordi Az Yadam composed by Mostafa Gorgein Zadeh
singer: Delkash
Faramarz Payvar
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Faramarz Payvar was born in Tehran in 1933 and died in 2009. His father was a painter and French language teacher at the University of Tehran. After he finished high school, he joined the Abolhasan Saba's Radif class for six years. He started working for the Ministry of Art in 1955 and then the Ministry of Education. Payvar won a scholarship to study English literature at the University of Cambridge. He tried to introduce Persian traditional music to the UK academic society during this period. Faramarz Payvar was the first Santur player to compose musical pieces for Santur. He has many books, has recorded thousands of hours of playing Santur, has written and composed many musical masterpieces, and has studied many students in Persian traditional music (especially for Santur).
Santur by Faramarz Payvar, National music instruments orchestra
Santur and Tonbak duet by Faramarz Payvar and Qmars Piraglu
Farhang Sharif
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Farhang Sharif was born in Amol in 1931 and died in 2016. He learned music from his father when he was four years old. Then, he learned Tar and Setar from Abdulhossein Shahnazi and Morteza Ney Davood. Abdulhussein Shahnazi had a unique style of playing the Tar, and he taught this feature to his only student, Farhang Sharif. Farhang Sharif's very clear voice, beautiful decorations, unique plucking, and improvisations in playing Tar made him immortal in the history of Iranian music. Many works of Farhang Sharif have been recorded with the radio orchestra as a Tar soloist in collaboration with music masters of the time.
Tar and Tonbak duet by Farhang Sharif and Reza Tarshizi
Gholam-Hossein Banan
Gholam-Hossein Banan was born in Tehran in 1911 and died in 1986. He was one of the most prominent singers of the 20th century. Quality and professorial modulation of voice (called Tahrir in Persian classical music) were his singing characteristics. Banan started his piano and singing lessons at six from the Morteza Neidavoud. He started singing as a professional vocalist at the age of 16 in private meetings. Then, in 1942, he joined the national radio music program and, after cooperating with Ruhollah Khaleqi, became popular all over the country. Many masterpieces remain from the Banan and have been popular for decades.
The Tasnif of Royaye Hasti composed by Hossein Ali Malah
singer: Banan
An Avaz of Dashti by Banan
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Hassan Kassai
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Hassan Kassai was born in 1928 in Isfahan and died in 2012. His father was very interested in art and music, so much so that Hassan Kasaei's father's house was a gathering place for the great masters of music of Isfahan, such as Seyyed Hossein Taherzadeh, Adib Khansari, Taj Isfahani and Jalil Shahnaz. Kassai learned Avaz and Radif from Adib Khansari, Taj Isfahani, and Ney from Mehdi Navai. Meetings and participation in setar classes with Abolhassan Saba had a significant impact on Kassai's artistic life. Hassan Kasaei is known as the father of modern Iranian Ney playing. For the first time, he played many Dasghahs of Persian traditional music by Ney, and the changes he made in the construction and playing style of this instrument changed the Ney from an enclosed instrument to one of the main instruments of Iranian music performances.