Hossein Alizadeh

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Hossein Alizadeh

Background information
Born 1951
Origin Tehran, Iran
Genre(s) Persian music, Sound track
Occupation(s) Composer, Setar and Tar player
Instrument(s) Sallaneh, [Tar][[1]]]
Years active 1973–present
Alizadeh at a concert in London
Alizadeh at a concert in London

Hossein Alizadeh (Persian: حسین علیزاده), is a distinguished[1] Iranian composer, Radif-preserver, researcher, teacher, and excellent tar and setar instrumentalist and improvisor, dubbed by many as an Ostad (Master) of Persian music. He is considered by critics to be one of the most influential artists of his generation.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Alizadeh was born in 1951 in Tehran.Hossein Alizadeh is one of Iran's leading classical composers and musicians. A virtuosic player of the six-stringed Persian tar, four-stringed Persian sehtar and eleven-stringed Azeri tar, Alizadeh has continued to extend the musical traditions of his homeland. In addition to composing orchestral pieces such as "Riders of the Plains of Hope," "Revolt," "Ney Nava," "Torkaman," "Raz-O-Niaz" and "Song of Compassion," Alizadeh has recorded the entire Radif, based on an interpretation by Mirza Abdullah.

Alizadeh was destined to become a musician. His mother, a Persian from Arak, and his father, an Azeri from Urmia, both loved music. In 1962, shortly after seeing his first tar in a Tehran music store, Alizadeh began taking lessons in the instrument. By his late teens, he had mastered the stringed instrument. His knowledge of music was further expanded during the childhood summers that he spent in Tabriz and Urmiya, two major cities of the Azerbaijani region of Iran. Tuning into a radio station from Soviet Azerbaijani, he became enchanted by Azeri music.

Following his graduation from a high school-level music conservatory, Alizadeh worked as a composer at the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children in Tehran, studied at the Center for the promotion of Classical Persian Music and attended art college. After earning a bachelor's degree in music composition and performance from the School of Music at the University of Tehran, he continued with graduate studies at the University of Fine Arts in Tehran. In the aftermath of the Islamic revolution of 1979, Alizadeh became increasingly interested in Azeri music and went to Tabriz to study with Ali Salimi.

Alizadeh began his professional musical career with the Iranian National Orchestra, rising to the position of conductor and soloist of the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran. He continued to promote Persian classical music with the Aref Ensemble and the Shayda Ensemble. Alizadeh's first professional experience in Europe came when he joined the orchestra of the Bejart Ballet Company for performances of the Maurice Bejart ballet, Gulistan." In the early 1980s, Alizadeh studied composition and musicology at the University of Berlin. Alizadeh has taught at the University of Tehran and the Tehran Music Conservatory. In the fall of 1997, he taught world music at Cal Arts in Velencia

[edit] Awards

He has been nominated for the 2007 Grammy Award along with Armenian musician, Djivan Gasparyan, for their collaboration album, The Endless Vision. In 2008, he was voted as "Iran's most distinguished musician of the year".

[edit] Inventions

  • Dâd o Bidâd: A new maqâm in Persian music, through combining the gusheh of dâd in dastgah of Mahour and the gusheh of bidâd in dastgah of Homayoun.
  • Sallaneh and Shoor-Angiz: Two new musical instruments derived from the ancient Persian lute barbat.

[edit] Works

[edit] References

  • Laudan Nooshin, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, second edition (Macmillan, London, 2001). ISBN 1561592390. (Oxford University Press, 2001). ISBN 0195170679.

[edit] Film scores

[edit] External links

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