Ali-Akbar Shahnazi () (12 May 1897 – 17 March 1985) was an Iranian musician and master of the

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

Biography

Ostad Ali Akbar Shahnazi was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 1897. His father,

Mirza Hossein Gholi Mirza Hossein-Qoli ( fa, میرزا حسین‌قلی), also known as ''Agha Mirza Hosseingholi Farahani'' (1853 in Tehran – 1916 in Tehran) was a musician and tar player. He and his older brother Mirza Abdollah started learning music ...

, another master of tar, named him Ali Akbar according to a very old tradition: the grandson should be named as his grandfather. His younger brother

Abdolhossein shahnazi Abdul Hussein ( ar, عبد الحسين) (also transliterated as Abd al-Husayn, Abdolhossein, or Abdul Husayn) is a masculine Muslim given name, the name is built from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and ''Hussein'', and means ''Servant of Husse ...

was also a master of

. He recorded many pieces with noted vocalists of his time such as

Eghbal Azar ''Eqbal'' ( fa, اقبال ; ''Luck'') was a Persian reformist newspaper published in Iran. It was shut down in July 2005. History and profile ''Eqbal'' was a reformist daily of which managing editor was Morteza Fallah. It was unofficially aff ...

and Nakisa. He collaborated with other masters of his time such as

Reza Mahjubi Reza Mahjubi ( fa, رضا محجوبی), (1898 – 14 July 1954) was a Persian (Iranian) composer and violinist. Biography Birth and Childhood Reza Mahjubi was born in 1898 in Tehran, into a musical family. His father, Abbasali Nazer, used to p ...

(violinist) and

Hosain Tehrani Hossein Tehrāni (1912 – February 26, 1974) ( fa, حسین تهرانی) was an Iranian musician and tonbak player. He is regarded as an innovator, expanding the modern tonbak into an instrument that can be played solo, in addition to its e ...

(father of modern

tonbak The ''tombak'' ( Persian: تمبک), ''tonbak'' (تنبک), or ''zarb'' (ضَرب) is an Iranian goblet drum. It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music. The tombak is normally positioned diagonally across the torso ...

). He not only taught his students his father's radif collection, but also composed a beautiful radif. This he named ''radif-e-dore-ye-ali'' and taught it to his students too. Shahnazi comes from a music family called in Persian Khandan-e-Honar, literally meaning "art dynasty". Shahnazi died in March 1985 at the age of 88. AghaHosseingholiAghaAliakbar

References

*Haghighat, A., Honarmandan e Irani az Aghaz ta Emrooz, Koomesh Publication, 2004, (in Persian) *Khaleghi, R., Sargozasht e Musighi e Iran, Ferdowsi Publication, 1955, (in Persian)

External links

A sample of his work
* Iranian tar players 1897 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Iranian people {{string-musician-stub