Ali-Akbar Farahani
Ali-Akbar Farahani was Born in Farāhān between 1821-1827 and died in AD 1862. He was a musician in the court of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar and one of the greatest Tar and Setar players of Persian traditional music, also known as the originator of Radif.
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Ahmad Ebadi
Ahmad Ebadi (the youngest son of Mirza Abdollah Farahani) was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1906 and died in 1993. He started learning music early, first from his father, then his sisters (Molouk and Moloud), and his brother (Javad). He was a master of Setar, and his style of playing Setar was unique during his time. Clear sound, intense plucking, and beautiful vibration were characteristics of his playing style of Setar. Ahmad Ebadi introduced new unique tunings for Setar based on its properties, while using Tar tuning for Setar was common in the past.
Setar solo by Ahmad Ebadi
Abolhasan Saba
Abolhasan Saba was born in Tehran in 1902 and died in 1957. "His family had a great love for art." he learned music from his father when he was three. He started learning music with great masters as a child. His music education from childhood to adolescence was done by masters such as Mirza Abdullah Farahani for Setar, Darvish Khan for Tar, and Hossein Khan Ismailzadeh for Kamancheh. He then learned the Violin from Hossein Hangafarin, the Santur from Ali Akbar Khan Shahi, and the theory of music and playing Piano at the American School of Music. Then, he joined the Iran Higher School of Music under the management of Ali Naghi Vaziri and completed the stages of his knowledge of Iranian and Western music.
During the forty years of his activity in music, in addition to collaborating with the great masters of his time and creating unique masterpieces of music, Saba made many innovations in playing instruments such as Tombak, Setar, Violin, and Santour. In an interview, Hossein Tehrani attributes all his achievements in innovation in playing tombak to Saba's teachings. It is noteworthy that the musicians of that time knew Saba as a complete orchestra, and this was due to his mastery of playing many Iranian and Western instruments. He was also very interested in preserving and recording local Iranian songs, and he went on many trips all over the country. Saba's role in the innovation, preservation, and development of Iranian music has made him a unique figure, and his works have been a guide for musicians and music lovers for decades. Among his students are Ali Tajvidi, Rahmatollah Badiei, Mahmoud Zolfanoun, Hossein Dehlavi, Mehdi Meftah, Parviz Yahaghi, Dariush Safvat, Hossein Tehrani, Gholam Hossein Banan, and Hossein Khajeh Amiri.
Zardeh Malijeh song composed by Abolhasan Saba, performed by Kamkars ensemble
Chaharmezarb of Afshari composed by Abolhasan Saba, played by Hamsaz ensemble
Ali Akbar Sheida
Ali Akbar Sheida was born in 1880 in Shiraz and died in 1945. Ali Akbar Sheida was a musician, poet, and composer whose compositions were very popular. Sheida was a dervish and pious man, he played Setar and also wrote the Nasta'liq script well. His songs and poems are very desirable and pleasant, and he is known as the Persian Tasnif savior. After eighty years, his songs still have grace and charm.
The Tasnif of Bote Chin composed by Ali Akbar Sheida
singer: Mohammad Reza Shajarian
The Tasnif of Dele Sheida composed by Ali Akbar Sheida
singer: Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Ali Tajvidi
Ali Tajvidi was born in Tehran in 1919 and died in 2006. Tajvidi started learning music at an early age from his father, Hadi Tajvidi, and then he got flute lessons from Zahir-al-dini. At the age of 16, he got violin lessons from Hossein Yahaghi for two years, and then he joined Abolhasan Saba's music school for eight years and became one of his best students. Many Tasnifs remained from Ali Tajvidi, and they are still popular. Tajvidi's music's golden age relates to his cooperation with Delkahs(singer) and Moeini Kermanshahi (poet and lyrist). Besides composing, Tajvidi was one of the best violinists in Iran and performed in many national radio music programs as a soloist.
Ashofteh Hali Tasnif by Ali Tajvidi
singer: Delkash
Raftam Tasnif by Ali Tajvidi
singer: Alireza Ghorbani
Ali-Akbar Shahnazi
Ali-Akbar Shahnazi (the son of Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani) was born in Tehran in 1897 and died in 1985. He was the master of Tar and taught Radif of Mirza Hossein-Qoli Farahani to well-known musicians and instrumentalists such as Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Dariush Talai, and Hosein Alizadeh. It is worth mentioning that Ali-Akbar Shahnazi earned his father's position as master of the Tar when he was just 18 years old.
Tat solo by Ali-Akbar Shahnazi
Ali-Naqi Vaziri
Ali-Naqi Vaziri (also known as Colonel Vaziri) was born in 1886 in Tehran and died in 1979. Waziri joined the army at the age of fourteen, where he learned to play the trumpet. Then, he learned to theory of music with Yavar Agha Khan. Vaziri went to Hossein Hangafarin's class to learn the violin. He learned Western music theory and harmony from a French priest at St. Louis School. He also started learning the Tar from his older brother, Hussein Ali Khan, at the age of fifteen. Colonel Vaziri went to Suleiman Khan Armani's class to learn harmony, modulation, chords, and playing the piano. Vaziri is known as a revolutionary in Iranian traditional music because he was the first musician to transcribe Persian traditional music into Western notation. To adapt Iranian music to the notation of Western music, he invented two new symbols, Sori and Koron, which are defined as raising the bottom of a note by a quarter of a step and lowering it by a quarter of a step, respectively. Ali-Naghi Vaziri taught many students, and some of them became famous in Persian music, including Abolhassan Saba, Ruhollah Khaleghi, Javad Maroufi, and Heshmat Sanjari. Although Vaziri's Western style in the notation of Iranian traditional music had many opponents among masters of Persian music, he is one of the most influential musicians of Persian classical music.