Ostad Nur Ali Elahi (Persianاستاد الهی; 1895 - 1974), was an Iranian philosopher, jurist, and musician of Kurdish descent. Elahi was born on the 11th September 1895 in Jeyhounabad, a small village in western Iran. His father, Hajj Nematollah (1871-1919), was a charismatic mystic and prolific poet who was widely revered as a saint. Ostad Elahi was a musical child prodigy, becoming a recognised master of the tanbur by the age of nine. He would eventually revive this ancient art, composing over 100 original pieces that he used as the basis for his improvisations. His musical ornamentations and complex playing technique, which for the first time involved the use of all five fingers of both hands, as well as his physical modifications to the instrument itself - namely, the doubling of the higher string so as to dramatically increase its expressiveness - earned him a reputation as an innovator of this art form and a master of the tanbur. For Elahi, music was primarily a means of engaging in contemplation and prayer. He never performed in public and did not make any recordings of his music in a professional setting. As a result Ostad Elahi remained largely unknown to the general public during his lifetime, notwithstanding the publication of several philosophical treatises in his later years. Following the introduction of his life and works on the occasion of his centenary in 1995, however, he has become much better known. Since the commemoration of his centennial in 1995, eleven CDs of his music have been released. The bulk of the original recordings were made on basic mono tape recording equipment during the 1960s and '70's in the context of informal gatherings with family and friends. These tapes have since been digitally remastered and restored. Ostad Elahi died on the 19th October 1974 at the age of seventy-nine. Official site