Aliasghar Bahari

Ostad Ali Asghar Bahari B. 1905 Tehran Iran – 10 June 1995 Farsi علی‌اصغر بهاری Also Spelled Ali-Asghar Bahari Or Ali Asghar Bahari Was A Distinguished Iranian Kamancheh Player Considered One Of The Great Iranian Traditional Musicians. Besides Performing On The Kamancheh He Also Composed A Repertoire Of Pieces For The Instrument. He Was Born In Tehran To Baharian Parents And Began Studying Music Under The Guidance Of His Grandfather Mohammad Taghi Khan Who Was A Kamancheh Player As Well. After Three Years His Father Arranged For His Uncles' To Teach Him More Advanced Techniques. Bahari Had Three Uncles Akbar Reza And Hassan Who Were All Famous Kamancheh Players At The Time. His First Major Success Was With Ebrahim Khan Mansouri's Orchestra At The Age Of 18. Bahari Established His Own Music School In Mashhad Then Moved Back To Tehran And Became A Kamancheh Instructor In Honarestan Under Ruhollah Khaleghi. When Bahari Began Playing Over Radio Iran In 1952 The Kamancheh Had Generally Fallen Out Of Public Favor And It Was In Many Ways His Extensive Concertizing And Broadcasting That Created A Renewal In The Instrument's Status In Classical Iranian Music. His Invitation To Go To France To Record For National Radio In 1966 Was An Appropriate Tribute To The Virtuoso Talents He Had Developed By The Time He Was In His '60s. These Recordings Were Released As Part Of The Brilliant Philips Series Modal Music And Improvisation. He Played With Famous Iranian Musicians Such As Hossein Tehrani Ahmad Ebadi And Abolhasan Saba. He Also Was A Professor Of Music In Tehran University For A Few Years And Toured Countries Such As France Belgium Germany Italy England And The United States. Among His Students Who Went On To Become Great Masters Of Persian Traditional Music In Their Own Right Were Mazdak Tehrani And Morteza Varzi. Bahari's Music Is Based On Modal Systems That Date Back To Ancient Greece And In The Persian Form Is Called Dastgah Utilizing Different Modes Or Dastgah Systems With Names Such As Segah Shour Afshari Bayat-E Tork Esfahan And Abouata. Performing From These Dastgah Requires Not Only A Mastery Of The Modal Scale But The Ability To Musically Extrapolate Meaningful Improvisations From The Mode's Basis. Prior To His Death In The Mid-'90s He Was Able To Benefit In The Explosion Of Interest In World Music Particularly Through An Extensive Series Of Issues On The Caltex Label. There Are Four Volumes Alone Of His Solo Playing All Of Them Of Superior Quality. Another Of His Projects During His Twilights Years Was Membership In The Aptly Named The Masters Band. This Was An Aggregation Of Senior Players In The Iranian Classical Music Genre That Included Jalil Shahnaz Faramarz Payvar Mohammad Mousavi Parviz Meshkatian Naser Farhangfar And Vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian. Payvar Has Been A Frequent Companion Of Bahari's On Recordings. read less