Barbat is one of the most ancient musical instruments of Persia. Its antiquity goes back to many centuries ago, to Ilamite era.
The name Barbat is probably originated in the name of the very famous Barbat player, ‘Barbad’, a musician living in Sassanid era, while some believe that Barbat is the combination of the two words ‘bar’ and ‘bat’ that they respectively mean chest and duck, since the structure of the rare of Barbat’s sound box together with the neck of the instrument is similar to the chest of duck.
The other and more popular name of this instrument is called oud (also spelled as ud). Oud (in the form of Al-Oud) that is the name used in Arab language countries, comes from the name of a special black wood used in the surface of the instrument, while some believe that oud is a dialect of the Persian name ‘roud’ originated in ‘roudeh’ that means gut. This seems to be more justifiable since the gut was used for making musical instruments’ strings and there are many similar names of musical instruments coming from ‘roud’ such as ’shesh-roud’ (means six-stringed) and so on…
It is believed that ‘pipa’, the Chinese lute, is originated in barbat and pipa goes to Japan and becomes ‘biwa’ and ‘Al-Oud’ goes to Europe and becomes the lute.
Anyway, though barbat was one of the most important musical instrument of Persia for both theory and practice (mentioned in every book on the theory of music and also poems of Persian poets), but it is not clear why during and after Safavid era up to some decades ago, it lost its popularity. One may consider that during and after Ghajar period, the most popular plucked instruments have been ‘tar’ and ’setar’.
Thanks to the efforts of the three last generation of musicians, bartat is becoming a little bit more popular.
Recently a very good website for Persian lute with the URL address www.iranianoud.com has become online. It has unique information about this Iranian instrument, its artists, makers and its history.
Kamancheh is the chief Persian bowed instrument and is played both in Persian art and folk music. The aim of this article is to offer an introduction to this important Persian instrument.
Kamancheh before Ghajar Period
Kamancheh is an ancient instrument. According to different books that I have studied, Ebn-e-Faghih is the first who mentions to this instrument in 10th Century. Also some Persian poets such as Masoud-e-Sa’d, mentions to the name Kamancheh in his poems.
Allameh-Ghotb-al-Din Mohammad Shirazi, in his famous encyclopedia, Dorrat-al-Taj, mentions to this instrument by the name Komajeh that should be a dialect of Kamancheh. The very famous Azerbaijani musician/theorist/poet, Abd-al-Ghader Maraghi, describes this instrument in his famous book, Jame’-al-Alhan and says that the sound of Kamancheh is more beautiful than Ghezhak that is another Persian bowed instrument and today Ghezhak (with the name Gheychak) is played in Sistan-Baluchistan of Iran and is related to Indian sarangi.
In the book Kanz-al-Tohaf by Hassan Kashani that is maybe the only historical book on making Iranian instruments, it has been written about Kamancheh of that time and describes how to make a Kamancheh and its accessories. It is very interesting to notice that the author of the book mentions to this instrument with the name Gheshak (another dialect of Ghezhak). Maybe some object us what he describes is not the Kamancheh but fortunately he has painted the shape of Kamancheh in his book and it is wonderful that he mentions that bow (he calls it mezrab. I should mention that mezrab today is used for plectrum of Persian plucked instruments) of Gheshak is called Kamancheh. Etymologically it is better to say that Kamancheh is more suitable to mention to the bow of this bowed instrument than the instrument itself. The reason is that the word Kamancheh is the combination of the two words, Kaman that means bow and cheh is diminutive suffix in Persian language. Anyway, to apply Kamancheh for this Persian bowed instrument is error allowed by usage and it seems there is no better name to offer.
Another book the Behjat-al-Ruh, mentions to Kamancheh as a perfect instrument.
Fortunately there are some historical Persian paintings (called in the West as Persian miniatures) that show the Kamancheh.
Some famous Kamancheh masters of Iran before the Ghajar Period are: Mirza Mohammad Kamancheh’i, Ostad Ma’sum Kamancheh’i, Molana Ahmad Kamancheh’i entitled to Amir Ghazi, Ostad Zeytun, Malek Mahmud, the brother of the author of the famous book, Tarikh-e-Sistan.
Kamancheh in and after Ghajar Period
According to different books in Persian language, it seems Kamancheh had only two strings. Though we don’t know when the third string had been added to this instrument, but we know that in Ghajar period, Kamancheh had three strings.
Different books mention to the completion of this instrument. For example, one of the famous Kamancheh players of Ghajar Period, Agha Jan, the father of Mirza Habib Sama’ Hozur (very famous santoor and tonbak player) had invented a kind of Kamancheh that had strange strings and keys and it had a long handle and he was used to play that while standing up and he had named that Kamancheh, Majles-Ara!
Some famous Kamancheh players in and after Ghajar Period are: Khoshnavaz Khan, Agha Motalleb, Esmail Khan, Hossein Khan Esmail-zadeh, Gholi Khan, Musa Kashi, Mirza Rahim, Javad Khan Ghazvini, Bagher Khan Rameshgar, Alireza Changi, Mirza Gholamhossein, Safdar Khan, Hossein entitled to Karim-Kur and his daughter, Vajiheh, Farmanfarma the Uncle of Naser-al-Din Shah, Jamileh (the female student of Esmail Khan), Ali Khan, Reza Khan Nikfar, Hossein Yahaghghi and his sister Keshvar Khnum entitled to Farah-Lagha, Haig, and at last, Asghar Bahari.
According to some books that we brought some parts of them here, we see that Kamancheh was very popular and important in Persian art and folk music. After the introduction of Western violin to Iran, unfortunately everything changed! Though the forth string was added to Kamancheh after seeing that violin had four strings, but many instrumentalists put the Kamancheh down and started playing violin. It is interesting to mention that even most of the students of Hossein Khan Esmail-zadeh such as Reza Mahjubi, Rokn-al-Din Mokhtari, Abu-al-Hasan Saba, Ebrahim Mansuri and so on were violin player.
Please consider what Ruh-al-Allah Khaleghi, the famous historian/composer/theorist says about Kamancheh in his famous historical book, Sargozasht-e-Musighi-ye-Iran:
“The sound of Kamancheh is nasal, while the sound of violin is closer to nature! When the violin was brought to Iran, since it had four strings, another string was added to Kamancheh for imitating the violin and since it was very similar to Kamancheh, many Kamancheh players became violin instructors. Since violin was similar to Kamancheh, portable and its shape was more beautiful, therefore gradually replaced by Kamancheh and today nobody plays Kamancheh. It is always natural that the more complete instruments will be replaced by non-complete ones. Similarly flute was replaced by ney and oboe by sorna.”
Anyway, there were some compassionate artists such as Aref Ghazvini that was not happy for what was happening to Persian art music and warned about the danger of abolishing the Persian art music and its important instruments like Kamancheh, Santoor and Tar.
One day Hasan Mashhun, Persian art music researcher, asked from one of the most famous Kamancheh players of his time: “Why did you put down the Kamancheh? We have lots of violin players, but Kamancheh players, one after another, are becoming old and disabled.” That the master replied: “There is no student of Kamancheh. People have become modern and play violin!”
It is obvious that using western instruments instead of Iranian instruments is not necessarily a smart idea. As my ethno-musicologist friends tell me, there should be a difference between modernization and westernization. Violin is violin and Kamancheh is Kamancheh. It is clear that every instrument has its own value and there is no need to discuss about that more.
As historians mention, the late Asghar Bahari, gave a new life to Kamancheh by playing this instrument in many concerts and gatherings and radio and TV.
It is fortunate that today we have many Kamancheh players in such a way that today there is no need to be anxious about being abolished the art of Kamancheh playing.
The picture of the late Asghar Bahari in this article appeared in Jean During’s book, The Art of Persian Music, page 114.
Setar is one of the most favorite musical instruments of Persia (Iran). As its names shows, it had three strings. “Se” and “Tar” in Persian language respectively means three and string. But in the beginning of Ghajar Period (19th century) a famous dervish setar player, Moshtagh Ali Shah, added the fourth string to have more melodic colors and tunes.
In historical texts for Persian music, many authors and poets have mentioned to its name and describe it as a three-stringed tanbour. Tanbour is a very ancient long necked lute of Persia and it seems its ancient name has been tambour in pre-Islamic ages.
Setar’s sound is not as loud as the other instruments such as kamancheh, santoor and tar and therefore some love to listen to the sound of setar in the silence of nights.
Setar’s sound box is wooden with some holes on its surface. It is played with the nail of the index finger.
The similarities between Persian setar and Indian sitar, shows that their root should be the same and many Indians believe that sitar’s ancestor is the setar and Amir Khosro Dehlavi, the very famous Indian musician-poet who was originally from Persia, made some changes to make it more appropriate for Indian music.
Famous setar makers of the past: Ostad Haj Taher and Ostad Eshghi
Famous setar players of the past: Mirza Abdollah and his son Ostad Ebadi, Ostad Abolhasan Saba, Ostad Saeed Hormozi, Ostad Yousef Foroutan and so on…
Unfortunately there is a very good setar player that his name is Moshir Moazzam Afshar that he was from Shiraz city and is not famous at all.
Tar is a plucked stringed instrument (a long-necked lute) that is played in Iran (Persia), Caucasian countries (like Azerbaijan, Armenia and so on) and central Asia (like Tajikistan). It exists in two forms now, the Persian (that is named Tar-e-Shiraaz or Irani) and Caucasian (that is named Tar-e-Ghafghaaz). The Persian tar is carved from a block of mulberry wood and has a deep, curved body with two bulges shaped like a figure 8. The upper surface is shaped like two hearts of different sizes, joined at the points. The sound box consists of two parts. The small part is called Naghaareh and the large part is called Kaasseh (that means bowl (sound box)). The sound box is covered with lambskin. On the lower skin, a horn bridge supports six metal strings in three courses. The long fingerboard has twenty-two to twenty-eight movable gut frets. The strings are plucked with a brass plectrum coated on one side in wax. Its range is about two and a half octaves.
The setar is the Persian long-necked lute and is made from thin mulberry wood and its fingerboard has twenty-five or twenty-six movable gut frets. Setar is literally translated as three strings. However, in its present form, it has four strings and it is suspected that setar initially had only three strings and the forth string has been added by Moshtagh Ali Shah. It is believed that setar is the ancestor of the Indian sitar.
The barbat, in Arabic courtiers and Iran known as the ud, is a short-necked fretless lute with five double-courses of strings and traditionally played with an eagle’s quill. The barbat is the ancestor of the European lute, and functions as a bass instrument. The barbat is the ancestor of the Chinese pipa too. The pipa brought to Japan and was named biwa.
The kamancheh is the Persian spike fiddle and dates back to antiquity. It has a small, hollowed hardwood body with a thin stretched skin-membrane. Its neck is cylindrical, and it has four strings. It is played vertically in the manner of the European viol. It is suspected that the fourth string was added in the early twentieth century as the result of the introduction of western violin to Iran. The kamancheh has been painted in Persian antique paintings.
GHEYCHAK
The gheychak is a bowed fiddle of the Persian folk music played in the southeastern region of Iran. There are two large holes on the upper side near the fingerboard and one on the lower tip, which is covered with a skin membrane. There are four main strings and eight to sixteen sympathetic strings, which have been eliminated in the context of Persian art music. The sound box resembles an upside-down anchor, which is carved from a tree trunk and is placed vertically on the player’s lap. The upper and lower sections are separated by two oval indentations on the right and left side, which give the gheychak a distinct nasal sound. The other instruments of Indian subcontinent such as sarangi, saringda, esraj and dilruba.
The santoor is a three-octave wooden-hammered dulcimer with seventy-two strings, which are arranged on adjustable tuning pegs in eighteen quadruple sets, nine (bronze) in the low register, and nine (steel) in the middle register. The santoor can be made from various kinds of wood (walnut, rosewood, betel palm, etc.) depending on the desired sound quality. The front and the back of the instrument are connected by sound posts whose positions play an important role in the sound quality of the instrument. Although the santoor is very old, it was neither depicted in miniatures, nor presented in any other medium until the nineteenth century. The secret of making the trapezoid-shape sound box lies in the quality and age of the wood, as well as in the arrangement of the sound posts which connect the table of the instrument to its back. Santoor is played in India, Iraq, Egypt and some other countries.
GHANOON
The ghanoon is the Persian zither. It is a flat trapezoidal wooden box, with twenty-four strings in triple fastened at its rectangular side on one end and to pegs on the oblique side on the other. The player to make slight changes in pitch manipulates small levels lying below each course of strings. The strings are plucked with two horn plectra, one on each index finger.
NEY
The ney that is the Persian knotgrass reed, has five finger holes in front and one thumbhole in the back. The ney has a range of two and a half octaves. The upper end is covered by a short brass cylinder, which is anchored in the tiny space between the upper incisive of the player. Sound is produced when a stream of air is directed by the tongue toward the opening of the instrument. In this way, sound is produced behind the upper teeth, inside the mouth, which gives the ney a distinct timbre than that of the sound produced by the lips on the outside of the mouth.
The most popular percussion instrument in Persian music today is a goblet drum known as the Tonbak. The Tonbak is a large wooden instrument with a goatskin head. Unlike other goblet drums, this drum has a much more squared-off shape and produces lower-pitched and softer tones due to its size and skin being put on with less tension. Other names for this drum are Donbak, Tombak, Dombak, Tompak and Zarb. Maybe the name Zarb has its origins in the Arabic word darb, meaning to strike, as mentioned above. The other names have a more interesting origin. The two main strokes played on this drum are known as Ton, for a bass tone played in the center of the drum head, and Bak, for a treble tone played on or near the rim. Combining the terms results in the name Ton-Bak. It is highly likely that the American name Dumbek is derived from one of the Persian names.
Daf is one of the most ancient frame drums in Asia and North Africa. As a Persian instrument, in 20th century, it is considered as a Sufi instrument to be played in Khanghah-s during Zikr ceremony. Daf has recently become very popular and it has been integrated into Persian music successfully.
PanteA Alvandipour, vocalist, was born in Tehran, Iran, 1975. When she was only three, her mother understood that she had a good voice for singing.
At the age of seven she started learning Santoor (Persian hammered dulcimer) with Saeed Sabet for 1.5 years. But at the age of thirteen she went to the class of Lotfali Seylani for learning vocal music and then at the age of seventeen she started learning the radif repertoire of Persian vocal music (Ostad Davami’s school) with the maestro Nasrollah Nasehpoor. According to his master’s advice she has been working on the glorious style of the late Ostad Ghamar-al-Molouk Vaziri (the very famous and skillful vocalist) for 8 years.
For learning Persian rhythms she went to the tonbak class of Saeed Roudbari and for learning daf (Kurdish frame drum) she went to the class of Mehrdad Karim Khavari.
Pany is also a professional sportswoman and she is instructor and referees of the Kiyo-Ko-Shin style of karate.
Hengameh Akhavan was born in Fuman, Gilan, Iran in 1955. She is the youngest child of her family. All members of her family are blessed with a very good singing voice but she is the only one who has become a professional singer. She started singing at the age of ten. Her father taught her “Avaz-e Dashti” (One of the modes in Iranian modal system of music). She and her brother were part of their school singing group.
Her father used to tell her about Ghamar and Ruhangiz (the very famous Iranian female singers) and encourage her to sing. She used to admire the character of Ghamar not only as a singer but as a kind and benevolent person too.
She went to Tehran after finishing the elementary school to visit her sister and her sister’s family. During her stay she was encouraged by her sister and her brother-in-law to stay in Tehran to continue her musical training and studies. She decided to stay in Tehran.
She went for an audition to Iranian national radio for becoming a singer. She recorded her voice singing one of the compositions of Ostad (master) Tajvidi and the melodies that her father had taught her in a cassette. The selection panel had five members all very famous musicians: Ali Tajvidi, Morteza Hannaneh, Habib Allah Badiee, Javad Maroufi and Fallah. Three of them accepted her but two of them wanted her to have another audition. She went back for a second audition. They didn’t accept her because she didn’t know the radif (Iranian modal system of music) completely. She enrolled and completed the radif classes of the Iranian national radio and she had another audition and this time she was accepted.
Thanks to the kind encouragement of Ali Tajvidi she went to the class of Ostad Adib-Khansari, the great master of Persian vocal music (the Esfahan school) and she started to learn the radif and the techniques of Persian vocal music. Mr. Ebrahim Sarkhosh (a very famous tar player) was also attending the class in order to help and accompanying the students’ vocals.
She was the student of Ostad Adib-Khansari for about ten years (1972-1982). Initially the classes were in the Iranian national radio offices and later on at his home.
She started singing for Radio in 1975 collaborating with the Shayda, Aref and Samai Ensembles, recreating the works of Ghamar. In 1984 she was invited to collaborate with the Archive of Iranian national Radio and TV. She has performed many concerts in Iran and Europe.
Now she teaches vocal music. Nasrollah Nasehpoor has declared: “Hengameh Akhavan is one of the best female singers of Iran. She is the Second Ghamar.”
Ghamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri, the most famous vocalist of Persian art music, was born in 1905. In childhood she lost her mother while her father had died too, so her grandmother became her guardian. Her grandmother, Molla-Kheyr-on-Nessaa (titled to Eftekhaar-oz-Zaakerin), was singer of the Rozekhaani ceremonies (religious ceremony) and Ghamar accompanied her and participated in the ceremonies. This was her first acquaintance with the Persian vocal music of the Rozekhaani genre. Their house was in the Sangalaj district of Tehran.
When Ghamar’s grandmother went to Karbalaa on pilgrimage of Emaam Hossein’s shrine; she stayed at the house of her cousin (the wife of Majd-os-Sanaaye’) where musical gatherings (Mahfel-e-Musighi) were held, and great masters of Persian music such as Darvish Khaan (very famous master of tar and setar), Rokn-ed-Din Khaan Mokhtaari (composer and master of violin), Haaji Khaan Eyn-od-Dole (very famous master of tonbak) and Shaah-zaadeh Hessaam-os-Saltane (multi-instrumentalist) were playing. Through this, she became more acquainted with Persian music and she was invited in a wedding ceremony where the great master of tar, Mortezaa Neydaavud was invited too.
When she sang in the wedding ceremonies privately, Ostaad Neydaavud played tar and asked her to sing again and she sang again and the Ostaad loved her voice and invited her to attend his class in order to learn the radif repertoire of Persian music. She went to his class and very soon she became one of the best singers of Iran. Their first concert was at the salon of the Grand Hotel about 1924. Then again their second concert was at the Palace Cinema located in the Laalezaar Street of Tehran.
So she became more famous and was acquainted with famous poets and writers of her time. Gradually she recorded many gramophone disks and performed many concerts with the tar of her master and colleague Ostaad Neydaavud and she became more and more famous. What money that Ghamar earned she shared among the poor people and when she passed away in August 5, 1959, she was poor.
Yahyaa (Haarun) Zarpanje, Jewish tar player, was born in Tehran, Iran (Persia), about 1897. His father, Rabi’ was a singer and daayere (Persian frame drum) player. His brother, Musaa, was also tar player. Yahyaa started playing tar during his childhood with his brother, Musaa, and then he became the student of the very famous tar and setar player, Darvish Khaan and Aaghaa Hossein-Gholi, the greatest tar player and master of radif repertoire. He was called Yahyaa Kolang (Kolang literally means pick!) by Darvish Khaan because his tar plectrums were very strong and powerful. Yahyaa Zarpanje was very serious practicing tar and everyday he used to play for many hours. He made some trips to Esfahaan, Rasht and Shiraaz (some important cities of Iran) and performed some concerts there, and people loved his music. Fortunately, he recorded some of his tar pieces on gramophone disks. He passed away at the age of 35.
Reza-Gholi Mirza-Zelli kam 1906 auf die Welt. Ohne Zweifel ist er einer der großartigsten Sänger, welche die persische Musikgeschichte je hervorgebracht hat. Seine warme und beeindruckende Tonmalerei zusammen mit seiner Stimmbreite und Gesangstechnik ergibt einen außergewöhnlichen Gesang, der in jeder Hinsicht brillant und ausgezeichnet ist. Zelli studierte persische Vokalmusik bei Abol-Hassan Eghbal und Aref Ghazvini (Dichter, Sozialaktivist und einer der größten Tasnifkomponisten Persiens).
Zelli spielte verschiedene Konzerte zusammen mit Ali-Akbar Shahnazi. Im Auftrag der Plattenfabrik Columbia nahm er Schallplatten auf. Es sind nur 8 Schallplatten, die überhaupt zum Andenken von Zelli übrig geblieben sind. Auf diesen Platten wird Zelli von Moshir-Homayun Shahrdar auf dem Klavier, Abol-Hassan Saba auf der Violine und Arsalan Dargahi auf der Setar begleitet.
Rezaa-Gholi Mirzaa-Zelli (1906 – 1945), vocalist and master of Persian radif repertoire was one of the best masters of Persian vocal music. He studied Persian vocal music under the training of Abol-Hassan Eghbaal (one of the greatest masters of Persian vocal music) and Aaref Ghazvini (social activist and one of the greatest tasnif composers in Iran). Zelli played concerts and recorded some pieces of his voice accompanied by instrumentalists such as Moshir-Homaayun Shahrdaar (pianist), Abol-Hassan Sabaa (violin). He passed away at the age of 38.
Ostad Hosain Tehrani, the very great master of tonbak and the father of modern tonbak, was born in 1912 in Tehran. Once that he had gone to zourkhaneh (Persian traditional gymnasium) he felt that he loved the tonbak of the morshed (Morshed is the singer and tonbak player of zourkhaneh that leads the athletes to practise marshal art in zourkhaneh. Morshed literally means spiritual guide.) So when he went back to their house, he made a hole at the end of a clay vase and covered the bigger mouth with skin and started playing his first strokes of tonbak on it.
When his father was at work, he was able to practice in a room. But after some days the neighbors complained to his father that sound of Hosain’s tonbak was tormenter. So he stopped practicing at home and started playing tonbak in the train (at that time it was called in Iran ‘vagon-e-asbi’) for people. That train’s line was between Lalehzar crossroads and Machine-Garage at the end of the South of Tehran. This was the first experience of this great master of tonbak of playing in front of people.
According to his interviews he started learning tonbak seriously in 1929 under the training of the late Ostad Hosain Khan Esma’ilzadeh (great master of kamancheh) and since at that time there was no notation for tonbak he had to call to mind the rhythms with some interesting phrases such as ‘Yek-Sad-o-Bist-o-Panj’ and ‘Baleh-vo-Baleh-Ba’leh-Digeh’.
For continuing his studies and research he went to the classes of the great masters of his time such as the late Ostad Reza Ravanbakhsh and the late Kangarlu. Even he studied the style of the gypsy tonbak players (tonbaknavazan-e-doregard).
In 1938 he became acquainted with the late Ostad Abolhasan Saba (multi-instrumentalist) and this acquaintance was an important point in his life and then they became heartfelt and sincere friends and this friendship continued till to the time of the sorrowful demise of the late Ostad Saba. He himself said: ” except the recitation of rhythms that I learnt from Khaleghi, [the late Ostad Ruhollah Khaleghi was composer and writer. His famous works are his book on the history of Persian music (Sargozasht-e-Musighi) and his very famous national composition, Tasnif-e-Ey-Iran.] what I know about the theory and practice of Persian music comes from Saba.”
In 1940 after the establishment of Radio Tehran, he and some other artists collaborated with the Radio. In 1941 in the Master Course Music School under the directorship of the late Ostad Ali Naghi Vaziri (tar and setar player and theorist of Persian music and specialist of esthetics) he started teaching tonbak. When somebody else became the director of this music school, the programs of the teaching of Persian music was omitted and the teaching activity of Ostad Tehrani was postponed.1949 after the efforts of Ostad Khaleghi and some other musicians the National Music School was established and Ostad Tehrani was invited to teach in this new music school.
In these years after the establishment of National Music Orchestra and National Music Society, he collaborated with these artistic organizations too.
After these activities the tonbak became more popular and many volunteers wanted to learn tonbak and Ostad Tehrani invited some of them in order to establish a musical group for tonbak for the first time in Iran.
After the establishment of Iranian TV in 1958, he started playing tonbak accompanying Ostad Faramarz Payvar (composer and santoor player).
In the first Shiraz Art Festival (1967) he played with Ostad Payvar and was the conductor of the tonbak group and one of the tonbak players of the group was Ostad Mohammad Esmaili.
Not only he was very famous and respectful artist in Iran but also many foreigner musicians had praised his tonbak. He had also some concerts in European cities such as London, Paris and Rome.
His book Amuzesh-e-Tombak, even now, is the most famous instructional book on tonbak. Later this book was reprinted and Ostad Esmaili has recorded the lessons of this book in two cassettes.
Ostad Tehrani recorded some tonbak solos and accompaniments in gramophone disks and some pieces have been reproduced in a cassette.
In 1972, though he was ill, he recorded his last performance, rhythms of zourkhaneh.
He was acquainted with ‘radif’ repertoire of Persian art music and ‘tasnif’ (rhythmic compositions of Persian vocal music).
He was kind, smiling, chic (I should explain that he lost one of his eyes while he was working in a technical workshop in his youth and because of this he was always wearing a smoked glasses), self-possessed and witty.
Unfortunately after a long indisposition, he passed away in Feb. 25th, 1974.
A very great master of tar (Persian six-stringed long-necked lute), Ostad Ali Akbar Shahnazi was born in Tehran, Iran, 1897.
His father, Mirza Hossein Gholi, the great master of tar named him Ali Akbar according to a very old tradition: the grandson should be named as his grandfather. His grandfather the Ali Akbar Khan of the Farahan village of the Arak city was a great master of tar. One day after a quarrel with his neighbor he went to the roof to play with his tar named Ghalandar. Tomorrow of that night they found him died in the roof.
He started learning tar from his respected father at the age of 7. After five years he reached at the level that he was able to teach some of his father’s students.
At the age of 14 recorded two gramophone disks by playing tar the Persian famous melodies, Avaz-e-Afshari and Avaz-e-Bayat-e-Tork accompanying the great vocalist Jenab Damavandi.
At the age of 18 after the demise of his father he was the responsible of his father’s class and started teaching them.
He established the Shahnazi Music School in 1929.
He recorded many pieces with the great vocalists of his time such as Eghbal Azar, Nakisa and so on. Also he has collaborated with other great master of his time such as Reza Mahjubi (violinist) and Hosain Tehrani (father of modern tonbak).
Not only he taught his students his father’s radif, but also he composed a very beautiful radif and called it radif-e-dore-ye-ali and taught it to his students too.
He comes from a music family called in Persian Khandan-e-Honar that literally means art dynasty. His younger brother Abdolhossein was a very good tar player also. Their uncle Mirza Abdollah was a very great teacher of setar. Ali Akbar Khan’s nephew the Gholam Hossein Khan was another great tar player.
He recorded his radif in 1977. He had recorded his father’s radif in 1962.
A very great master of radif, tasnif and tonbak, Ostad Abdollah Davami, was born in Ta village of Tafresh city, Iran in 1891. As a teenager he discovered that he had a good, audible and suitable voice, so he decided to learn the elementary principles of Persian vocal music.
One day he had gone to a gathering in the house of Majd-al-Mamalek that he met Ali Khan Nayeb-al-Saltaneh. After that he became the student of Ali Khan Nayeb-al-Saltaneh for learning radif and Haji Khan, Agha Jan, Sama’ Hozur (santoor player) for learning tasnif, and the art of tonbak playing.
Because of his talent in learning music, he became friend of great masters of his time such as Mirza Hosseingholi (tar player), Hossein Khan (kamancheh player) Darvish Khan (tar and setar player), Malek-al-Zakerin (vocalist) and Mirza Abd-al-Allah (setar player). He has trained many students. He passed away in 1980.
Tonbak is the chief percussion instrument of Persia. This goblet drum is one the most interesting drums of the world. For playing on it you use all the ten fingers. After the effort of the great masters of tonbak such as Ostad Hosain Tehrani and Ostad Nasser Farhangfar (my master of tonbak) tonbak has advanced very much.
Social Status of the Tonbak Players of the Past
Tonbak was not considered as a solo instrument in the past. I should explain that in Ghajar period vocalists were of two kinds: avazkhan and tasnifkhan. The avazkhan’s job was to sing the non-rhythmic compositions of Persian radif repertoire and the tasnikhan’s job was to sing the rhythmic compositions of Persian art music. Though there were some vocalists that were the master of the both kinds: for this maybe the most famous example is the late Ostad Abdollah Davami. Also most of the tasnifkhan-s were tonbak player (zarbgir). So tonbak was the instrument to be played by the singers and it was not considered as an independent instrument.
In the past, tonbak players were to undergo at the hands of their fellow musicians and from their status in society. They had to bear humiliation, insults and exploitation This is still in some views true. Tonbak players are labeled as accompanists, considered second-class citizens of the music world, even if they occasionally play solos. This ill treatment that they receive is partly due to the generally held concept that tonbak is incapable of expressing different emotions. Tonbak has its own unique role in Persian music and it seems that any other instrument cannot be substituted.
Until the early part of this century, tonbak was used mainly as an accompanying instrument. The primary job of tonbak players was to play the basic rhythmic structure as an underpinning to vocal and instrumental music. They had to maintain a low profile at all times, even when the soloist made a mistake and yelled at them in public. They had to be silent and could not say anything because they were afraid of losing their job. They were the only ones who knew how much devotion lay behind their skill. The pain of knowing this and yet not being permitted to express it sometimes made them desperate.
Despite all these negative attitudes, tonbak players fortunately never ceased to improve and according to the most of the researchers this revolution started by the late Ostad Hosain Tehrani. It was necessary for tonbak to be free from the yoke of tasnifkhan-s and to be given at the hands of players that they were interested to work on tonbak more seriously and independently.
The world went through a series of upheavals. Also some movements happened in Iran. Due to this turmoil, the Iran’s social structure began to change. This, in turn, had a strong effect on musicians and music. The former music patrons, i.e. the kings and aristocrats, were replaced by businessmen Music Colleges and Radio and then TV. Rather than performing in small salons for groups of relatively cultured aristocrats who apparently were trained to appreciate the classical form, musicians increasingly were expected to perform in larger halls for larger and apparently less well-educated audiences with different tastes.
This bad social status of tonbak players and these changes in Iran caused that tonbak players started to change and make movements.
Outstanding tonbak masters such as Ostad Hosain Tehrani because of their love of tonbak tried to make some changes. Gradually tonbak and tonbak player made a better place in the music world. Then other prominent tonbak masters such as Ostad Nasser Farhangfar came to fore and progressed the tonbak more. The clarity, stamina, extraordinary speed and overall power of these tonbak players caused the tonbak to reach to the very good point of progress and popularity. Tonbak found more roles in instrumental music, though one of the most important characteristics of the art of tonbak playing, i.e. to play cyclic rhythms, was forgotten.
The Social Status of the Tonbak Players of Today
The effort of these dear and devotee tonbak players such as Ostad Hosain Tehrani and Ostad Nasser Farhangfar caused that tonbak became more popular among well-educated people and found more roles in instrumental music. Tonbak players of today now really play very good. The clarity, stamina, extraordinary speed and overall power of today tonbak players are really praiseworthy. But by taking these progresses into consideration, the question rises: what good has it really done to the social status of tonbak players? Maybe tonbak players of today are more successful apparently. But the overall image of the tonbak player is almost the same as the past. They are those accompaniments and the secondary musician on the stage. The primary job of the tonbak player is still to make the main artist’s music more colorful and enjoyable by becoming an adjunct to him or her. The social status of tonbak players has not changed and in fact only their exposure has altered.
What Should It Be Done?
In my opinion the way that Ostad Hosain Tehrani had started should be continued and tonbak players should start again to make more tonbak solo recitals. By this comment I am not trying to say that the accompanying style of tonbak playing is not incredible. Accompaniment is an art in itself, particularly when it is performed on tonbak. There are many sensitive and intelligent tonbak players, which show the power and beauty of the techniques of the art of accompaniment.
Remark. The idea of this article comes from an article of the excellent work of Pt. Aloke Dutta, Tabla, Lessons and Practice, 2nd Edition.
Peyman Nasehpour: Forlornness that has been carried on the tonbak – by Sama Babayi
Last week, Peyman Nasehpour performed in the European Musician’s Meeting in Barcelona of Spain that was about frame drums. In this meeting ghaval of Azerbaijan, Daf of Kurdistan, Tamburello of Italy, Daf and Req of Arabs, Tambourine of Europe, Adufe of Portugal and so on were discussed. Musicians from Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Canada, USA, Panama and so on and “Peyman Nasehpour” from Iran played in this meeting. For this reason, we have had a talk with him:
How was your performance in Barcelona?
In the second day of the meeting, I taught tonbak, Azerbaijani ghaval and Sufi style of daf and the night of that day, I had tonbak, ghaval and daf solo that drumming solos were welcomed; also I accompanied an artist from Spain, his name Juanjo Fernandez, who was the player of a special bagpipe from the Galicia of Spain. The meeting will be held next year too.
It seems that the role of percussion instruments is weaker and less colorful than stringed and bowed instruments. Why?
In the past music was one of the branches of mathematics and it was the forth branch. Music in theory and practice was divided into two sections; one was the “ta’lif-e-neghmeh-ha” (composition of notes) that was the melody and the other was the “igha” that today it is the rhythm and it was an important section of the knowledge of music. Since the role of drums is to show the rhythms more colorful, so they were considered very important, but unfortunately in a period of history of music, the drums were never paid attention and to investigate about the reasons of this historical problem needs a broad research and this period should be named as the “lost-ring-of-the-history-of-music”.
How many genres of percussion instruments we have?
Generally some of them like tonbak and daf should be considered national, while some like “damam” who accompanies the “neyanban” (bagpipe) of Bushehr city of Iran should be considered folkloric or regional. Of course it is possible that in future these drums will be used in the traditional or national music and they will be considered as national drums too.
When did this drum found an independent character gradually?
Maestro Hosain Tehrani revolutionized the tonbak. Before Safavid period this instrument was supported and played but then it was forgotten and then maestro Hosain Tehrani revolutionized the drum.
So should Hosain Tehrani be considered as the most important character of tonbak?
Exactly! He was born in 1912 and passed away in 1974 and he should be considered as one of the most prominent tonbak players and as I mentioned above, he revolutionized the tonbak. He was a pioneer/modernist tonbak player who had a new style in the art of playing the tonbak and by his solo and accompaniment performances attracted the society in the way that every day from his time up to now new methods and styles coming and some famous tonbak players have come up and even the world is going to pay attention to this drum.
Despite of all these things, it seems that there is no important role for the tonbak in many orchestras. Why?
This is because of the many restrictions that this instrument has had during the last centuries and unfortunately a part of those restrictions still exists. If somebody wants to receive a bachelor’s degree in art at any rate that person can not choose a percussion instrument as one’s main instrument, while one can and must choose a stringed or bowed instrument and this is a big question for me. Why cannot somebody receive a bachelor’s degree in art, while choosing dohol as his main instrument, whereas Dr. Courtney from USA has PhD of tabla! Why shouldn’t this happen in Iran? Addition to this problem, I think to have percussion festivals is a very good way that players of inside and outside of Iran can exchange their information that they can be familiar with different styles of these instruments, meanwhile we should have an independent committee in “Iran House of Music”.
Are the percussionists not a part of the committee of players in “Iran House of Music”?
Yes they are but we should notice that there is a difference between an instrumentalist and a percussionist. Because percussionists play the rhythms, while the instrumentalists play the melodies. And by considering the forlornness that these instruments had, they will be given special attention.
Who are the important characters of this drum in Persian music?
Maestro Abdollah Davami (who was a great master of radif, tasnif and old style of tonbak), Agha Khan, Agha Jan the First, Maestro Ravanbakhsh, Haji Khan Zarbgir that had the old style and Maestro Hosain Tehrani that gave a lot of different changes to the tonbak and he should be named as “the father of modern tonbak”, and then Maestro Eftetah, Maestro Farhangfar and Maestro Bahman Rajabi that worked on this drum very much.
How is the ability of this drum in fusing with other instruments in western music?
European musicians have a tendency in using it, because they have similar instruments such as setar, tar, santoor and so on, but they don’t have similar percussion instruments we have and for this reason they are interested in tonbak, tabla and tempo (darbouka), of course they have some similar drums that are played with sticks such as dohol and I hope tonbak like the drums of Arabic countries, India and West Africa will have its suitable status in the modern and western music.
How many are interested in tonbak?
The number of people who are interested in this instrument is growing. For example Maestro Helmi, the famous tonbak maker, has sold about 200,000 tonbaks that shows the quantity of people who are fond of tonbak; of course tonbak despite of the other instruments is not financially beneficial!
Peyman, most of your performances are in the form of tonbak recital, while tonbak is considered as an accompaniment?
After the effort of outstanding tonbak players such as Ostad Hussein Tehrani and Ostad Nasser Farhangfar, tonbak has shared in instrumental music more than the past and this can be considered an advance in the art of tonbak playing. As you know tonbak before Ostad Tehrani was metronome! Since tonbak players have not given enough solo performances, even now tonbak is considered as an accompaniment. In my opinion tonbak as a chief percussion skinned instrument of Persian art music, is the most suitable instrument for expressing the rhythmical characters of Persian art music and tonbak recital is the best method for this subject.
Do you work on any other percussion instruments?
Yes, I work on ghaval (Azerbaijani frame drum), daf (Kurdish frame drum) and Indian tabla.
But why Indian tabla?
Tabla is the chief percussion instrument of North Indian music (Hindustani sangeet). It is about forty years that tabla has been popularized in the world. This is due to great tabla players such as Ustad Alla Rakha (accompaniment of Pandit Ravi Shankar) and his son, Ustad Zakir Hussain. Indian music is rich in rhythm. I try to gain the experiences of Indian percussionists.
How much has the researching of Indian music influenced on your tonbak playing?
First of all there is a relationship among Persian and Indian culture and their sub-cultures that it is called Indo-Persian culture. Also there is a special characteristic in Indian music that it is called mathematical complexity of rhythm (tal). I have tried to apply it in some of my tonbak solo performances.
What is your style in the art of tonbak playing?
Since I have been one of the students of Ostad Farhangfar, so his style has had a great influence on my style of tonbak playing.
What should somebody do if he wants to be a good tonbak player?
He should have a good tonbak. Never buy a mashghi (low-level) instrument! He should have a good teacher too. He should listen, practice and research.
Research about what?
Many things: 1. Tonbak performances of great tonbak players (cassette, video, CD, book) 2. Rhythms of Persian regional music 3. Ancient music of zourkhaneh 4. Rhythms of other countries esp. neighbors 5. Old Persian rhythms (Igha’) and so on.
Please explain a little about Igha’?
Igha’ was the second important topic of music in the past. It has been discussed in Persian, Arabic and Turkish manuscripts. The rhythms have been notated by Atanin method (Persian onomatopoeia system) e.g. tanan tanan tananan tan (the cycle of Kereshmeh). These rhythms can be found in today Middle Eastern Music.
What is today notation?
Today notation comes from West. We have two systems: 1. One-lined system 2. Three-Lined system. Three-lined system has been used in the famous book of Ostad Tehrani, named Amouzesh-e-Tombak. One-lined system has been used in the book of Ostad Amir Nasser Eftetah. This book has been published by the effort of Mr. Fereydoun Helmi and some other people.
Which system is better?
Every system that is able to notate the rhythms of tonbak is good but one-lined system is much better, because it is written, read, taught and learnt easier. Anyway today everybody should know the both.
What is your view about the future of art of tonbak playing?
Prof. Seyyed Abdollah Anwar was born in Tehran, Iran, 1924. He received his high school diplomas in Literature and Mathematics in 1942 and 1943.
Also he received his Bachelor’s Degrees in Laws, Pure Mathematics, Politics and Economics in 1945, 1946, 1948 and 1949.
Then he continued his research and studies personally on the following fields:
Philosophy, Mathematics particularly Mathematical and Modal Logic, Physics, Laws, Politics, Economics, Theology, Religious Jurisprudence, Library Science, History, Tehranology and Genealogy Science.
His famous works:
List of manuscripts of Iranian national library in ten volumes
Ten volumes books of the very famous Persian dictionary, Dehkhoda dictionary
The very famous book of Khajeh Nasir-al-Din Tusi, Asas-al-Eghtebas and its comment
The very famous book of Abu-Ali-Sina, Shefa in 22 volumes and its comment and comparison with Aristotles works
So many articles in different fields
He has trained so many students and now his students are very famous in different parts of the world.
Ostad Mirza Agha Ghosi, outstanding daf player and master of Sufi vocals, was born in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province of Iran, 1928. He learned the art of daf playing and Sufi vocals during his teenage from his father Haji Ghosi and later Darvish Karim. He was appointed Khalife (spritual leader) by Sheikh Abdolkarim Kasnazani of Kirkuk, a city in Kurdistan of Iraq. He was one of the oldest daf players of Iran and he had a very nice vocals. He performed in many festivals in Iran, France, Colombia, Turkey, Panama, Peru and Ecuador. In the famous Avignon Festival, he was entitled to “Rare Bird”. He passed away on July 17, 2007.
A recognized master of ghaval (Azerbaijani frame drum), Ostad Latif Tahmasebi-zadeh, was born in the city of Ardebil in province of Azerbaijan in Iran, 1944.
His father, Majid Tahmasebi-zadeh moved to Baku (capital of today Republic of Azerbaijan) in order to find a good job. After moving to Baku he learnt garmon (Azerbaijani organ similar to European accordion). Ostad Latif Tahmasebi-zadeh was interested in ghaval and he started learning it at the age of fourteen. He initially learnt ghaval by observing ghaval players and visually studying their techniques during their performances in the wedding ceremonies (toylar). After learning ghaval, he started playing ghaval in wedding ceremonies (toylar) and gradually he became famous.
Then great masters of his time such as Ostad Ali Salimi (famous composer and Azeri tar player), Ostad Safar Ali Javid (Azeri tar player), Ostad Seifi Ebrahimpour (Azeri tar player), Ostad Esma’il Cheshm Azar (Azeri kamancheh player) invited him for artistic collaboration. He performed with them more than 30 years. He has had many concerts and has performed in national Radio and Television.
Great masters of Azerbaijani art music have praised the style of his ghaval playing. He has developed some new playing techniques for ghaval. He is regarded as a preeminent ghaval soloist in Iran and Republic of Azerbaijan. Ghaval was traditionally played by singers as accompanying instrument. Ostad Latif Tahmasebi-zadeh has transformed the role of ghaval into an independent instrument. He is one of the few ghaval players who give solo ghaval performances.
A recognized master of the art of tonbak playing, the late Ostad Nasser Farhangfar (1947-1997), was born in Rey city of Tehran Iran.
His father was a tar player and his uncle was a tonbak player. His grand father, Mirza Mehdi-ye-Khoshnevis, was a famous calligrapher of Ghajar’s era. He started playing tonbak at the early age of nine. At this time he regularly went to the local traditional zourkhaneh, not to watch the athletes, but to listen to the rhythms of the tonbak used in training of the athletes.
Later he studied tonbak with the Mohammad Torkaman, Ostad Hosain Tehrani, and Ostad Dr. Noor Ali Khan Boroumand and Ostad Abdollah Davami.
His talent and knowledge in the art of tonbak playing with his background of zourkhaneh’s tonbak made him a unique tonbak player in his time. His followers have called his style sabk-e-Ostad Farhangfar (the style of maestro Farhangfar).
He performed widely and trained many students. His masterpiece in the art of tonbak playing is his accompaniment of the tar of Ostad M.R. Lotfi in Dastgah-e-Segah in the cassette of Parvaz-e-Eshgh, which distributed for his remembrance by Ava-ye-Shayda Company in Tehran.
He was also familiar with radif repertoire of Persian art music. He was also a poet and a calligrapher.
Parham Nassehpoor, multi-instrumentalist, but mainly known as a Persian Tar player, was born in Tehran, Iran, 1976. He is the youngest child of Nasrollah Nassehpoor, vocalist and Persian vocal professor.
In 1983 he took the course, Music for Children/Carl Orff, with Mohammad Reza Darvishi, ethnomusicologist and composer. After finishing the course, at the age of 8, he started learning Persian Tar and the Radif repertoire of Mirza Abdollah with Zeydollah Tolui. Then he studied Persian Tar with Hossein Alizadeh, the Radif repertoire of Ali Akbar Shahnazi with Dariush Talai and took a master course with Mohammad Reza Lotfi. In order to continue his musical studies, he had a course with his father, Nasrollah Nassehpoor for vocal Radif repertoire of Persian Classical Music. For studying theoretical old Persian music he studied with Prof. Seyyed Abdollah Anwar. Then he studied the Radif repertoire of Mirza Hossein Gholi with Reza Lotfi Larijani.
Besides his first and main Instrument, Persian Tar, he has learnt some other instruments like Kamanche, Barbat, Setar and Azeri Tar by himself, but amoung these instruments, Kamanche is no more a hobbyinstrument, but instead an Instrument, on witch he has reached his own style. Because of his Azerbaijani origin, Azerbaijani Classical Music influences his style of Kamanche playing.
He teaches Persian Tar and plays as a Persian Tar solist since 1996. He lives in Halle, Germany since 2005 and studies Musicology at Martin-Luther University of Halle.
Pooyan Nassehpoor, santoor player, the second child of Ostad Nasrollah Nasehpoor, was born in Tehran, Iran, 1975.
In his family he was acquainted with Persian and Azerbaijani art music. In 1983 he had a course for Child Music with Mohammad Reza Darvishi (researcher of Persian regional music). After finishing the course he started to learn the santoor (Persian dulcimer) with Ostad Majid Kiani. Then he continued his santoor studies with Dr. Soheil Sadi-Nezhad. In order to continue his musical studies, he had a course with his father for vocal radif repertoire of Persian art music. For studying theoretical Old Persian music he studied with Prof. Sayyed Abd-Allah Anwar.
He is researcher of the music of the Ghajar period. He also teaches santoor and has solo, duet and ensemble performances as a member of Nassehpoor Ensemble.
Hammered Dulcimer Discussion Group: Description
Greetings! This group is for all those instrumentalists interested in the hammered dulcimers. They are known by many names listed here:
Chinese Yang-Chin, Egyptian Santoor, German Hackbrett, Greek Santoori, Hungarian Cimbalom, Indian Santoor, Iraqi Santoor, Persian Santoor, Turkish Santoor and so on…
We welcome your participation. Please introduce yourself, and remember to put your dulcimer related website URLs in the links section. The calendar too, is available to all. Please keep all posts related to hammered dulcimers. Mentioning other instruments and music in context is fine. However, political posts, flames, and those posts considered hostile or offensive to list members are off topic, and repeated off topic posts are grounds for removal.
This group has been established by Pooyan Nassehpoor (moderator).
The DoveSong Foundation in cooperation with the Nassehpoor Family of Tehran is pleased to provide all people of the world with this page of important and rare music. For the first time, these great treasures of Persian Art Music are being made available, transcribed to MP3 format by Pooyan Nassehpoor from very rare recordings.
Together the DoveSong Foundation and the Nassehpoor family dedicate this page to our brothers and sisters in all lands, that may we learn to love and understand each other through an understanding our our music and culture.
A recognized master of the vocal radif repertoire of Persian art music, Maestro Nasrollah Nassehpoor, was born in Ardebil, Iran, 1940.
Since his father, the late Agha Shakour, was garman (Azerbaijani organ similar to European accordion) player, he was acquainted with Azerbaijani music through his childhood.
When he moved to Tehran, he studied vocal radif with the late Maestro Mahmoud Karimi for many years. He also studied instrumental radif repertoire of Persian art music at the National Music Institute with the late Maestro Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi (A very skillful tar player).
In the class of the late Maestro Soleiman Amir Ghasemi (vocalist), he got in touch with the late Maestro Saeed Hormozi (A very skillful setar player) and he learned many important points of Persian art music.
At last he worked with the great master of vocal radif repertoire, the late Maestro Abdollah Davami, who had a great influence on his musical development.
Maestro Nasehpoor’s vocal’s unique timbre, which has coupled with his creative talent and rich Azerbaijani musical background, makes him an outstanding performer. He has researched, taught and performed about 50 years and has nearly trained 4000 students that some of them are famous vocalists in Iran and abroad.
Recently as a member of the chief committee board for the biggest Iranian NGO of music, House of Music, he has been socially very active in defending the rights of musicians and also promoting Persian classical music.
As a professor of the Art University of Tehran, his books on old theoretical music of Persia are under publication.
Durch seine Familie wurde er schon in sehr jungen Jahren in die aserbaidschanische und persische Musik eingeführt.
Er besuchte die “Child Music Course” und studierte dort die Theorie der alten persischen Musik.
Mit 9 Jahren begann er “Tonbak” (Persische Kelchtrommel) und “Ghaval“ (azerbaijanische Rahmentrommel) zu spielen. Darüber hinaus beschäftigte er sich auch mit dem Instrument “Daf” Diese kulturellen Einflüsse vermischt mit seinem akademischen mathematischen Studium haben einen hervorragenden Tonbakspieler aus ihm gemacht.
1997 und 1999 beendete er seine Ausbildung mit dem Bachelor’s und dem Master’s Degrees in Mathematik.
Seit 1997 beschäftigt er sich auch mit der indischen Tabla.
Er hatte viele Bühnenauftritte mit seinem Vater (Maestro Nasrollah Nasehpoor) und anderen berühmten Musikern.
Persische Musik hat in Peyman’s Familie große Tradition.
Call for Peace
Maestro Nasrollah Nassehpoor
Video clips of Nasehpour Ensemble at YouTube
This is the website and blog of Peyman Nasehpour, the hand drummer of Nassehpoor Ensemble. In this web space one can learn about Persian music, particularly Persian drums and drums and percussion music generally. The important links are as follows:
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