Iranian traditional music (musiqi-ye sonnati)—also known as Iranian dastgahi music, Iranian classical music, or Iranian art music—is my principal tradition of musical practice. I began learning the Iranian tar with Hadi Sepehri in 2007, two years after I started playing the daf (You can hear my tar performance ). Until 2010, I studied the tar alongside Iranian music theory, ear training, the setar, the tombak and modal musical analysis. I then shifted toward a largely self-directed approach while expanding my studies into other areas, including European art-music theory, harmony, piano, and composition.
During this period of independent study, I focused closely on contemporary tar masters: their compositions, performance styles, sonorities, and instrumental techniques. I listened carefully, tried to reproduce their sounds, and used their recordings and repertoire as models for developing my own playing. After approximately two years of self-directed work, while I was also teaching the tar and daf at the Delshodegan Music School, I began taking lessons with master Hossein Mehrani. His strict and detailed approach helped me refine my technique and introduced me to additional bodies of repertoire, including the works and tar style of Ali-Akbar Shahnazi.
After a year and a half of study with Hossein Mehrani, I returned to independent practice, continuing to work on the repertoires of different tar masters while further developing my technique and interpretation. Since 2010, I have performed the tar with different ensembles and in a range of settings, including music students’ MA graduation performances, public stage concerts, Delshodegan Music School events, and commissioned performances.
Following my immigration to Canada, my tar practice entered new intercultural and community-based contexts. I performed with Arab musicians in the University of Alberta’s Middle Eastern and North African Music Ensemble, taught aspects of the Iranian modal system and repertoire to students, and co-established the Tarz Ensemble, which performed as part of the ensemble’s 2023 concert. I have also performed at community-league gatherings and in care settings for people living with dementia, collaborating with musicians trained in European art music.
I am currently in the early stages of developing a tar album, titled Trauma, that will include several original compositions for solo tar and for tar in combination with other West Asian instruments.