Biography

Iranian Sufi / mystical music composer, Master of the Tanbour and vocalist, former student of Master Seyed Amrollah Shah Ebrahimi and Master Taher Yarveysi, he has been composing, researching, teaching and performing Persian spiritual music and ancient Maghams of Tanbour for over 25 years.

His mastery of instrumental technique and Persian musical language, his original creativity and his deep knowledge of Magham repertoire have helped him create a new and distinct style in Persian mystical music by blending emotion and spirituality with innovative techniques of composition and performance.

Rooted in a rich and ancestral heritage, his music - profound, spiritual, compelling, entrancing - draws inspiration from the poetry of great mystical poets Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Omar Khayyam and Ain-al Quzat Hamedani. Skillfully combining ancient Maghams of Tanbour, complex free-flowing melody lines and soul-stirring poems sung in a soft yet powerful and deep vocal style, he creates tapestries of sound, word and emotion that touch the heart and inspire contemplation and meditation.

As a solo artist, accompanied by his Ensembles or joined on stage by some exceptional foreign musicians, he performed in:

Turkey (Konya) in 2009 ("Night of Rumi" Concert - Mawlana’s Commemoration Festival)
UK (London) in 2011 ("Night of Rumi" Concert)
Nepal (Kathmandu) in 2011 (Osho Tapoban Commemoration Concerts)
Turkey (Konya) in 2011 ("Shams & Tanbour" Concert - Mawlana’s Commemoration Festival)
Lebanon (Beirut) in 2012 ("Shams and Tanbour" Concert)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2013
Russia (Saint Petersburg) in 2014
Nepal (Kathmandu) in 2014 (Osho Tapoban Commemoration Concerts)
Romania (Bucharest & Brasov) in 2017 ("Sound of Rumi" Concerts)
Morocco (Rabat) in 2017 (Visa For Music Festival)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2018 ("Chants of Light" Concert)
Qatar (Doha) in 2018
Romania (Rasnov & Brasov) in 2018 (Film and Histories Festival #10 FFIR)
Romania (Cluj Napoca) in 2018 ("Ancestral Dialects" Concert)
Finland (Helsinki) in 2018 (Sacred Music Festival)
Romania (Bacau) in 2019 ( 24th National Symposium of Aesthetics)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2019 (European Cultural Center for UNESCO)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2019 ("Ancestral Dialects" Album launching)
South Africa (The Music Imbizo International Music Conference and Showcase) in 2020
Romania (Bacau) in 2021 ("7 Letters with self-ignition" Theatrical Production by "George Apostu" International Culture & Art Centre)
Romania (Rasnov & Codlea) in 2021 (Film and Histories Festival #13 FFIR)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2021 ("East meets East" Concert with Andrei Kivu, Calin Grigoriu & Cristi Horia aka YASNA)
Romania (Bacau) in 2021 ("East meets East" International Artistic Residency with Andrei Kivu & Andrei Grigoriu)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2022 ("East meets East" Concert with Andrei Kivu, Calin Grigoriu & Cristi Horia aka YASNA)
Romania (Timisoara) in 2022 (with Grigore Lese, Master of Romanian Ancestral Music)
Romania (Medias) in 2022 ("The Organ meets Tanbour" with Edith H. Toth)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2022 (YASNA live @ ArtHub with Andrei Kivu, Calin Grigoriu & Cristi Horia)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2022 ("So Far, So Close" - Tanbour-Guitar Duo with Calin Grigoriu)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2022 ( special guest in Teodora Enache's "The Calling of Sound" Concert)
France (Paris) in 2023 (YASNA Live in Paris with Andrei Kivu & Calin Grigoriu)
France (Marseille) in 2023 (YASNA Concert @ BABEL MUSIC XP Festival)
France (Jargeau) in 2023 (YASNA Concert @ St. Etienne Church with Andrei Kivu, Calin Grigoriu & Cristi Horia, special guest: David Hykes)
Romania (Bacau) in 2023 ("7 Letters with self-ignition" Theatrical Production by "George Apostu" International Culture & Art Centre)
Romania (Bucharest) in 2023 ("So Far, So Close" - Tanbour-Guitar Duo with Calin Grigoriu)

as well as in the most important concert halls and major cultural events in Iran: Inauguration of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Office -Tehran (2012), 70th anniversary of UNESCO -Tehran (2014), UNESCO ICCN Meeting -Isfahan (2014), etc.

“Invisible Fire”, “Shams and Tanbour", “Death to Birth”, "Sound of Rumi", “Chants of Light” – five of his early years spiritual music projects - have been internationally acclaimed.

“Bangi Ajab” (music, tanbour – Ali Asghar Rahimi, lead vocals – Shahram Nazeri) – a project supported by UNESCO which combines video images of the most beautiful heritage sites in the city of Esfahan with traditional Iranian music – is to be released soon.

"Ancestral Dialects” (music, tanbour, vocals – Ali Asghar Rahimi, seaboard – Mircea Kiraly, cello – Attila J, Szabo, Guest Artist - Actress Elena Ivanca) was released in 2019 and is available for purchase / streaming on digital music stores (https://ffm.to/ancestraldialects)

He made his film debut in 2018 when he composed the music for SIMIN, an Iranian film directed by Morteza Atashzamzam and signed the arrangement and orchestration for the theme song of NIRVANA, an Iranian-Bengali co-production by the same director. In 2022 he resumed the collaboration with Atashzamzam composing the music for his latest movie BAR MIGARDAM to be released soon.

In 2020 he composed the soundtrack for the "Art & Heritage" documentary series (48 episodes) about art, spirituality, sacred spaces UNESCO Heritage Sites in Romania, a project produced by Trinitas TV and supported by Romania National Commission for UNESCO.

In 2021, UK-based Evolution Media Music released DESERTS - ASIA album (http://evolution.sgl.harvestmedia.net/album/EMM368/EMM368-Wonders-Of-Nature-Deserts-Asia), part of “Wonders of Nature” production music series, that includes “Nowhere to hide”, “Farah and Kavir” and “Rainshadow”, three of his songs written and arranged in collaboration with South African composer Nic Paton and musician Ronan Skillen.

He is a Member of the Committee for registration of spiritual music of Iran in UNESCO's World Heritage, Founder & Head of Tanbour Center of Isfahan, Member of the House of Music of Iran, Member of Music Council of Isfahan Municipality, Music Adviser of UNESCO Office in Isfahan, Founder and Music Director of Roohafza Ensemble (1999-2016) and Yasna Ensemble (2021), Founder of Yasna Production Co.

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