Nothin' Sez Somethin': Iran

Hossein Alizadeh was born in Tehran, Iran in 1951. After graduating from the Music Conservatory, he entered the School of Music of the University of Tehran in 1975. There he received his bachelor's degree in composition & performance. During the same period he studied with various masters of Traditional Persian music such as Houshang Zarif, Ali Akbar Shahnazi, NurAli Borumand, Mahmood Karimi, Abdollah Davâmi, Yousef Foroutan, & Saied Hormozi. From these masters he learned the radif of Persian classical music.

Upon completion of his studies, he was awarded a position with the National Orchestra. He became the conductor & soloist of the Iranian National Orchestra of Radio & Television of Iran. He began a solo career through which he has performed both in Iran & abroad. He was a member of the Sheyda Ensemble. In 1978 he helped established the Aref Ensemble. Both groups were dedicated to the promotion & advancement of Persian classical music.

Alizadeh's first professional experience in Europe was his participation in the orchestra of the famous Bejart Ballet Company in performance of Gulistan, a ballet by Maurice Bejart. In the early 1980's, he further expanded his formal education by studying composition & musicology at the Universityr of Berlin.

Many consider Alizadeh to be one of the most important figures in contemporary Persian music. He plays tar (Tar [تار‎] is a Persian long-necked, waisted instrument. The word tar itself means ‘string’ in Persian. This is claimed to be the root of the names of the Persian setar & the guitar as well as the dutar & the Indian sitar.) & setar (setar [سه‌تار‎] from seh, meaning ‘three’ & tār, meaning ‘string’ is a Persian musical instrument. It is a member of the lute family, which is played with index finger of the right hand) as well as the sallaneh (the sallaneh [سلانه‎] is a newly developed plucked string instrument made under the supervision of Alizadeh, constructed by Siamak Afshari. It is inspired by the ancient Persian lute called barbat. The barbat used to have three strings, but the sallaneh has six melody & six harmonic strings giving Alizadeh a new realm in lower tones) & the shurangiz (the shurangiz is a new Iranian musical instrument, a member of the lute family, also developed under supervision of Alizadeh. It has a skin face, six strings, a longer, thinner fingerboard & an increased number of frets compared with its original prototype, the setar).

Hossien Alizadeh – Ney-Nâva, 1983.

decryption code in comments

Side A –

Ney-Nâva 1 – Darâmad

Ney-Nâva 2 - Naghme

Ney-Nâva 3 - Ney-Nâva

Ney-Nâva 4 – Nahoft, Forud

Ney-Nâva 5 - Dance of Samâ

Riders in the Field of Hope

Nowrooz

Side B –

Songs of Compassion 1 - Life

Songs of Compassion 2 - Sunrise

Songs of Compassion 3 – Depth of Catastrophe

Songs of Compassion 4 – Song of Compassion

Songs of Compassion 5 - Ascension

Songs of Compassion 6 – Search

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Djamshid Andalibi was born in 1956 in Gharveh, Kurdistan. At the age of ten he began to study music with Hassan Kamkar. Two years later he was admitted into the Kurdistan Iranian Music Orchestra. In 1975, he went to the Teheran Fine Arts Academy studying with the late Nour-Ali Boroomand. There, he learnt to play the ney under Hossein Omoomi. His masters for Mirza Abdollah’s classical repertoire “Radif” were Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Mohammad Karimi, & Nasrollah Nasseh-Poor.

The ney (نی/نای‎) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. The Persian ney consists of a hollow cylinder with finger-holes. Sometimes a brass or plastic mouthpiece is placed at the top to protect the wood from damage, but this plays no role in the sound production.

In 1977 he joined the Iranian National Orchestra of Radio & Television of Iran. He was a member of the group Sheyda. In 1978 he was one of the founding members of the group Aref with young musicians like Hossein Alizadeh, Parviz Meshkatian, Ali-Akbar Shekartchi, & Nasser Farhang. He is the ney soloist on Ney-Nâva posted above.

He has had a long collaboration with the most famous classical singer in Iran, Shajarian. He has performed on many CDs as guest vocalist or instrumentalist. He plays santur (santur [سنتور‎] is a Iranian hammered dulcimer) & ney on Senavazi va Taknavazi. He plays tar on Esfehan & Shur, also on Bayat-e-Tork & Esfahan. He plays santur on Segah, setar on Majnoon, & one of electronic instruments (MIDI piano, drums, etc.). He is a multi-instrumental virtuoso.

The following is a set of 3 tapes of radif (the traditional music of Iran is based on the radif, which is a collection of old melodies that have been handed down by the masters to the students through the generations. Over time, each master's interpretation has shaped & added new melodies to this collection, which may bear the master's name) for ney. It is the radif of Mirza Abdollah, originally for tar, here played on ney.