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Mehdi Meftah
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Mehdi Meftah was born in 1911 in Tehran and died in 1996. He started self-studying the Ney as a child and then learned the violin from Abul Hassan Saba. After graduating, he joined the Ministry of Arts and collaborated with the radio. Mehdi Meftah started learning Qanun in 1949. He is known as the first Qanun teacher of Iranian classical music after centuries of the disappearance of this instrument in Persian classical performance. Among his prominent students are Simin Agha Razi and Maliheh Saeedi.
Mirza Abdollah Farahani
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Mirza Abdollah (the son of Ali-Akbar Farahani) was born in Tehran, in 1843 and died in 1918. He was a master of playing Setar and Tar and an organizer of the Radif. His version of Radif is today's most common source of Persian classical music among musicians (especially instrumentalists). He taught many famous musicians and instrumentalists, such as Abolhasan Saba and Hossein Hang Afarin.
Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani
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Mirza Hossein-Qoli (the son of Ali-Akbar Farahani) was born in Tehran, in 1853 and died in 1916. He was a master of playing the Tar and one of the organizers of the Radif. His version of the Radif is common between the Tar and Setar players nowadays. He taught many famous musicians and instrumentalists of the history of Persian classical music such as Darvish Khan, Ali-Naqi Vaziri, Morteza Neydavoud, and his son Ali Akbar Shahnazi.
Mohammad-Reza Shajarian
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Mohammad Reza Shajarian was born in Mashhad in 1940 and died in 2020. He was one 0f the greatest singer and composers in the history of Persian classical music. Besides his knowledge, amazing voice, and talent for singing every part of Persian traditional music, he was one of the most (or most) popular musicians in Iran. For more information about Mohammad Reza Shajarian see his official website.
The Tasnif of Morghe Sahar composed by Morteza Neydavoud
singer: Mohammad Reza Shajarian
The Tasnif of Jane Oshagh, composed by Parviz Meshkatian
singer: Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Mohammad-Reza Lotfi
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Mohammad-Reza Lotfi was born in 1947 in Gorgan and died in 2014. He learned music and the basics of playing Tar by being encouraged by his bigger brother and winning first prize in the Young Musician Festival in 1964. Lotfi joined the Persian National Music Conservatory in Tehran when he was eighteen. He learned Radif and playing of Tar and Setar from Habibollah Salehi and Ali Akbar Shahnazi, Abdollah Davami, and Sa'id Hormozi. Then, he joined the Fine Art Faculty of the University of Tehran and studied Radif from Nour-Ali Boroumand. During his education, he worked as a soloist and conductor for the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Traditional Persian Music. After graduation, he became a faculty member of the Fine Art faculty of the University of Tehran. His cooperation with television and radio and the establishment of the Shayda and Chavosh ensemble with great contemporary names in Persian music, such as Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Shahram Nazeri, Hossein Alizadeh, and Parviz Meshkatian, led to numerous masterpieces of Persian music. After the revolution in Iran and the rising Islamic regime, all parts of Art became restricted, hardly including music. Due to this fact, after traveling to Lotfi for a short visit to the USA, he decided to stay in the USA. He continued Persian traditional music and performed many concerts worldwide during this period. In 1980, after twenty years, he returned to Iran, taught many students, and established a women's shayda ensemble. Some of his students who are masters of Persian traditional music include Ardeshir Kamkar, Hamid Motebassem, Majid Derakhshani, Bijan Kamkar, and Mazyar Shahi.
Tar and Tonbak Duet by Mohammad-Reza Lotfi and Mohammad Ghavi-Helm
Setar and Tonbak Duet by Mohammad-Reza Lotfi and Mohammad Ghavi-Helm
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Morteza Mahjubi
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Morteza Mahjubi was born in 1900 in Tehran and died in 1965. Mahjoubi first learned the Piano from his mother and then from Hossein Hangafarin. He is remembered as a genius Piano player because he tuned and played Piano like an original Persian instrument. At age ten, he performed with Aref Qazvini as a piano soloist. Mahjoubi was the first pianist to play all Iranian Dastghahs by Piano. His collaborations with Banan, Jahangir Malek, Parviz Yahaghi, and Mohammad Reza Shajarian on radio led to unique works of Iranian traditional music. He also invented a style of writing musical notes to record and convey his ideas. Mahjubi had many students, the most famous of whom was Fakhri Malekpour, who studied with Mahjubi for over twelve years.
Piano solo by Morteza Mahjubi
Morteza Neidavoud
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Morteza Neidavoud was born in Esfahan in 1900 and died in 1990. He was born in a music-lover Jewish family and learned Tar first from Ramazan Zolfaghari (for seven months) and then from Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani (for 36 months). After the death of Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani, he learned about Radif from Darvish Khan. Morteza Neidavoud established his class of Tar and Radif at 25, and after the unexpected death of Darvish Khan, he also taught Darvish Khan's students after his death. His cooperation with great names of Persian traditional music, such as Musa Maroufi, Gholam-Hossein Banan, Ali-Akbar Shahnazi, and specially Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri, led to the creation of many masterpieces in Persian music history. One of the most well-known songs created by Morteza Neidavoud is Morghe Sahar.
Pishdaramad of Isfahan composed by Morteza Neidavoud, played by Sahba Motalebi
Tar solo by Morteza Neidavoud
Musa Maroufi
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Musa Maroufi was born in Tehran in 1885 and died in 1961. He got his first music lesson by learning Setar early in childhood and then joined the Darvish Khan Music School. He was one of the best Tar students of Darvish Khan and soon became a master of Tar and Radif gatherer. Musa learned theoretical music and notation from Hossein Hang Afarin and wrote and recorded a book of Radif based on Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani and Mirza Abdollah Farahani's style of Radif. His book "Introductory Methodology of Playing Tar and Setar" by cooperating with Ruhollah Khaleqi and Nasrollah Zarin Panjeh, is still prevalent.