Hossein Alizadeh
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He played and taught Setar and Tar and composed many albums and music for films. Alizadeh was nominated for a Grammy Award for the album The Endless Vision in 2014. He refused to accept France's high distinction in Art, the Legion of Honour. He wrote and played many masterpieces, which introduced Persian classical music worldwide. Some of the most well-known albums of Hossein Alizadeh include The Endless Vision, Bi To Besar Nemishavad, Neynava, and Faryad. Click following link to visit his official website.
Setar and Tonbak duet by Hossein Alizadeh and Majid Khalaj
Tar and Tonbak duet by Hossein Alizadeh and Majid Khalaj
Hossein Tehrani
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Hossein Tehrani was born in 1912 in Tehran and died in 1974. His father was interested in music and sometimes invited music groups to his house. It was from this time that Hussein became interested in the Tonbak instrument. At that time, due to the simplicity of playing and the low social status of Tonbak players, they were marginalized and unpopular with ordinary people. For this reason, Hussein made a Tonbak with a pot for himself and secretly practiced with it until his father realized and banned him from playing the Tonbak. However, his fingers were still practicing rhythms everywhere. Despite his financial problems, he went to Hossein Khan Esmaeilzadeh's Tonbak class in his youth. His invitation to one of the performances of Abul Hassan Saba and other music masters as the Tonbak player was a turning point in his life. In this assembly, Abolhassan Saba realized his unique talent in drumming and accepted him as a student. Hossein Tehrani's talent, perseverance, and years of learning in Saba's class, accompanied by other great masters of music, made him an exception in the history of Iranian music. He promoted the position of the Tonbak playing in Iranian traditional music as an essential instrument. In addition, his playing techniques made this instrument one of the most popular instruments in Iranian music performances.
Tonbak solo by Hossein Tehrani
Tonbak Solo by Hossein Tehrani (Locomotive song)
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Houshang Zarif
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Houshang Zarif was born in Tehran in 1938 and died in 2020. After completing his elementary education, he went to the National Music Conservatory under the direction of Ruhollah Khaleghi. He learned to play Tar and Iranian traditional music under the supervision of famous musicians of the time, including Ali Akbar Shahnazi, Musa Maroufi, Javad Maroufi, Hossein Tehrani, and Ruhollah Khaleghi. After graduating, he joined the Ministry of Culture and Arts (teaching music to blind students) and then for 17 years at the Conservatory of Music. Houshang Zarif's artistic career continued with the training of many students and the performance of concerts in Iran and worldwide. Some of Houshang Zarif's students are Hossein Alizadeh, Dariush Talaei, Hamid Motebassem, Arshad Tahmasebi, and Majid Derakhshani.
Tar and Tonbak duet by Houshang Zarif and Mohammad Esmaeili
Tar solo by Houshang Zarif
Jalil Shahnaz
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Jalil Shahnaz was born in 1921 in Isfahan and died in 2013. He was born into a family interested in music, and he began learning the Tar from his older brother, Hossein Shahnaz. Jalil Shahnaz was so talented in music and playing Tar, which made him a pioneer of Isfahan's style of playing Tar. He joined Radio of Isfahan at the age of 28 and went to Tehran after six years to continue his artistic work at Radio Tehran. Shahnaz is one of the greatest Tar players in the history of Persian traditional music from the point of view of great music masters. His collaboration with the great masters of Iranian music in Isfahan and Tehran led to creating unique musical masterpieces.
Tar solo by Jalil Shahnaz
Javad Maroufi
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Javad Maroufi was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1912 and died in 1993. He was the son of Musa Maroufi, a well-known musician, Tar player, and Radif gatherer. Javad Maroufi first learned Tar and violin from his father, then he joined the Ali-Naqi Vaziri's Art school at 14 and was taught piano by Tatiana Kharatian. Besides his lesson on classical Western music piano, he got classical Persian music from Ali-Naqi Vaziri. At 21(1933), he was hired as a music teacher by the Ministry of Culture and Arts. In 1940, he joined the National Radio Program and became the principal conductor of the radio orchestra and piano soloist; he composed many masterpieces of music during his work on radio. Many of his music students are well-known musicians, pianists, and music teachers, such as Anoushiravan Rohani, Ardeshir Rohani, Mahin Zarinpanjeh, and Sassan Mohebbi.
Piano solo by Javad Maroufi
Kayhan Kalhor
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Kayhan Kalhor was born in 1963 in Tehran. He is a musician, Kamanche, and Setar player and won Grammy Award with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Click on the following link (official site) for more information.
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Kamancheh solo by Kayhan Kalhor
Kamanche and Tanbur duet by Kayhan Kalhor and Aliakbar Moradi
Malihe Saeidi
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Malihe Saeidi was born in 1948 in Tehran. She was born into an art-loving family and went to the National Conservatory of Music after finishing elementary school. She learned the Qanun as the main instrument from Mehdi Meftah. After graduating high school, he joined the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran. He learned various aspects of Iranian music from masters such as Dariush Safvat, Noor Ali Boroumand, Saeed Hormozi, Mahmoud Karimi, and Yousef Foroutan. After 22 years of research, she, in collaboration with Hossein Dehlavi, published a book in three volumes about learning Qanun named ‹‹ The Qânun Course ››. She also published ‹‹The Radif of Mirza Abdollah for Qanun ›› in 2015.