Iranian singer and musician (–)
"Shajarian" redirects here. For his son, see Homayoun Shajarian. For his daughter, see Mojgan Shajarian.
Mohammad-Reza Shajarian (Persian: محمدرضا شجريان; Persian pronunciation:[mohæmːædɾeˈzɒːʃædʒæɾiˈɒːn], 23 September – 8 October )[1] was an Iranian singer and master (Ostad) of Persian traditional music. He was also known for his skills in Persian calligraphy and humanitarian activities.[2] Shajarian started his singing career in at Radio Khorasan, rising to prominence in the s with his distinct singing style.
Shajarian's critics believe that his fame is because of banning of all other singers in In fact right before there were abundant of excellent singers like Iraj (ایرج), Golpa (گلپا), Hayedeh (هایده), whom Shajarian was far from being able to compete with due to lack of talent. His concerts before couldn't attract people at all due to the very strong competitors.
Shajarian's main teachers were Ahmad Ebadi, Esmaeil Mehrtash, Abdollah Davami, and Nour-Ali Boroumand. He also learned the vocal styles of singers from previous generations, including Reza Gholi Mirza Zelli, Fariborz Manouchehri, Ghamar Molouk Vaziri, Eghbal Azar and Taj Isfahani. He cited legendary Persian tar soloist Jalil Shahnaz as highly influential to his development, indicating that he often tried to mimic Shahnaz's playing style in his singing.
Shajarian collaborated with musicians such as Parviz Meshkatian, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh, Faramarz Payvar, Dariush Pirniakan, and Sohrab Pournazeri. He was recognized as a skilled singer in the challenging traditional Dastgah style. His works also cover some songs of Iranian ethnic music, including Mazandarani music, Azeri music, Kurdish music and Lur music.
UNESCO in France presented Shajarian with the Picasso Award in and with the UNESCO Mozart Medal in In , Los Angeles Times cited him as the "Greatest living maestro of Persian classical music".[3] After coming out in support of the Iranian Green Movement and criticizing the Iranian government, he was banned from holding concerts and releasing music.[4][5][6]
Mohammad-Reza Shajarian was born on 23 September in Mashhad, Iran. His father, Mehdi, was a Quran qari, as was his grandfather Ali Akbar. His mother was Afsar Shahverdiani, who died in [7][8]
He was the oldest of five siblings, and studied singing at the age of five under the supervision of his father by recitation of the Quran.[9]
At the age of 12, he began studying the Persian classical repertoire known as the Radif without his father's consent as studying and performing music was against his father's religious beliefs.[10] This may have been the reason why he chose the stage name "Siavash Bidakani" in his early career as a singer, which did not last long, and soon he used his real name again.[original research?][11] Shajarian started his singing career in at Radio Khorasan, rising to prominence in the s with his distinct style of singing.[12] Since then his career has included teaching at Tehran University's Department of Fine Arts, working at National Radio and television, researching Persian/Iranian music, and making numerous recordings.[13]
Shajarian was not always in music groups, but he did the vocals for the Masters of Persian Music with his son Homayoun Shajarian, as well as two other ostads, Kayhan Kalhor and Hossein Alizadeh. He also performed with his daughter Mojgan Shajarian.[14]
In , he toured the world with the Ava Ensemble, composed of his son Homayoun (tombak and vocals), Hossein Behroozinia (barbat), Majid Derakhshani (tar), Hossain Rezaeenia (daf), and Saeed Farajpouri (kamanche).[15]
In , he toured with the Shahnaz Ensemble with his daughter Mojgan and other band members. The ensemble is named after master tar musician Jalil Shahnaz, with a percentage of the proceeds going towards supporting his health care needs.[16]
Shajarian studied with Esmaeil Mehrtash, Ahmad Ebadi and Nour-Ali Boroumand.
He learned the vocal styles of previous singers such as Hossein Taherzadeh, Reza Gholi Mirza Zelli, Qamar-ol-Moluk Vaziri, Eghbal Azar, and Taj Isfahani.[17]
He started playing the santour under the instruction of Jalal Akhbari to understand better and perform the traditional repertoire.[18] In , he was introduced to Faramarz Payvar and took santour lessons with him. Shajarian also learned Abolhasan Saba's vocal Radif from Payvar.
He also studied under the guidance of master Abdollah Davami, from whom he learned many early Persian songs.[19] Davami also passed on to Shajarian his interpretation of the Radif.[20]
Shajarian taught many students in the field of singing, some of whom are:[21]
Shajarian with some of his instruments
Shajarian is the creator of many instruments.[23][24] The first exhibition of his instruments was held in May , the second in September at the House of Artists by the Del Avaz Cultural and Artistic Institute.[25]
Shajarian's Bidaad album was recorded after a three-year hiatus from a commercial recording. The album's lyrics speak of a wonderful place having been reduced to shambles and bloodshed, in which he sings in sadness, "what happened?". When giving a lecture at California State University, Sacramento on 2 March , he was asked what the lyrics of this song meant. His response made it clear that he chose these lyrics based on what happened to the Iranian regime after the revolution – a once beautiful country being reduced to shambles.[35] This is widely considered [by whom?] his first commercial recording meant to represent the voice of an oppressed people in Iran.[citation needed]
Shajarian has indicated support for Iranians protesting against the 12 June Iranian presidential election results.[36] When Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the protesters as "dust and trash", Shajarian told a BBC Persian channel telephone interviewer that he (Shajarian) considered himself the voice of dust and trash: "It is the voice of dust and trash, and it will always remain the voice of dust and trash." He also asked IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) to stop broadcasting his songs. He mentioned that his famous song "Iran, Ey Saraye Omid" (Iran, the land of Hope), has no relation with the current situation of his country.[37][38]
After Shajarian criticized the government public and sided with the Green Movement protesters, the state broadcasterIRIB banned his work of art, which used to be a fixture of public broadcasting until then. Even against Shajarian's will, the state TV and radio stations stopped airing Rabbana, a prayer sung during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan heralding the moment of fast-breaking.[39] The recital had been broadcast regularly every Ramadan since the revolution but swept from public view after the legendary singer fell out of favor with the establishment. A Shajarian fan in Tehran told The Guardian Ramadan without Rabbana was like Christmas without Christmas carol.[40] In the elections of and , Hassan Rouhani criticized the ban on broadcasting Shajarian's works, including "Rabbana", and demanded that Shajarian's works be broadcast on television and radio.[41][42][43]
In an interview in , Shajarian stated that "my criticism was a mistake of one person, I am not against the republic system. Our music has always been attacked or criticized by a class of religious people. Of course, some of the deviant music can be like this. But the nature of music is not deviant. I myself am fundamentally opposed to deviant music. We accept the clergy and religion".[44]
Lyrics of his song "Language of Fire," issued in September , — "Lay down your gun, Come, sit down, talk, hear. Perhaps the light of humanity will get through to your heart too" — are thought by some observers to speak "directly to the plainclothes Basiji militiamen and security forces" who had beaten protesters during recent unrest.[3]
In an interview with Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh in , Shajarian said that he was not against the Islamic Republic and that his protest was only against one person (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad). "We say you have no right to insult the people. This is not a fall with the whole system."[45][46][47]
We say you have no right to insult the people. This is not a fall with the whole system
—&#;mohammadreza shajarian, interview with Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh, Iran newspaper
Shajarian continues: "Several years ago, we had a concert in Stockholm with the Aref group, led by the living memory of Parviz Meshkatian. As soon as we were present on the group stage, they started chanting. They chanted against the Islamic Republic. The children in the group were all upset. When they chanted, we just sat and listened, and they chanted. They saw that we were not doing anything. Some ordinary people who came also shook hands with us to start our work. I also told Parviz to perform the last ballad and then go. We had two parts of the program, in each of which there were five ballads, and we only performed the last ballad, and we got up and went out, and the children brought their instruments. I told the person announcing the program to say behind the microphone. In honor of those who bought tickets and came from far and near, we performed this ballad. And get your money back and go. Later it turned out that the organizer was one of them, so I came backstage and told him as much as I could.[47]
While in exile, Shajarian privately sat for a series of rare interviews that form the basis of a feature-length documentary entitled The Voice of Dust and Ash. In a leaked clip of the documentary, Shajarian can be heard saying, "I am Mohammad Reza Shajarian, son of Iran. My voice is part of Iran's ancient culture, to remind the people of the world that we have had a culture of love, peace and friendship." The clip went viral on social media twice, once in and again upon Shajarian's death in [48] Shot in California and Iran, the interviews occurred shortly before he announced his cancer diagnosis and the rapid deterioration of his health. They now constitute his last public testament.[49]
In March , Shajarian revealed that he had had kidney cancer for the past fifteen years.[50] He appeared with shaved hair in his Nowrouz congratulation video, published on his YouTube account.[51]Bahram Beyzai composed a poem after announcement of Shajarian's illness and described it as a sad day in happy days of Nowruz.[52]
Shajarian transferred to hospital on 27 January and had a successful surgery.[53] He was released from hospital on 25 August but was hospitalized again on 5 October.[54][55]
Shajarian died on 8 October at the age of 80 at intensive care unit of Jam Hospital in Tehran.[56] The cause of his death was not immediately made public.[57] A private religious ceremony was held following day at Behesht-e Zahra in Tehran, before his body being transferred to Mashhad.[58] He was buried at the Tomb of Ferdowsi in Tus, Mashhad, on 10 October.[59]
In , Shajarian married teacher Farkhondeh Golafshan when he was 21 years old. They had one son Homayoun and three daughters, Farzaneh (a.k.a. Raheleh), Mojgan and Afsaneh. Afsaneh married Parviz Meshkatian. Shajarian and Golafshan divorced in [60]
His second marriage was to Katayoun Khansari, sister of his son's wife, in The couple had one son, Ryan who was born in in Vancouver, Canada.[61]
| Wins | 8 |
|---|---|
| Nominations | 2 |
Note
| |
Main article: Mohammad-Reza Shajarian discography
Some of the following albums are joint works between Mohammad-Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri or Homayoun Shajarian. Among these works are composers such as Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Parviz Meshkatian, Hossein Alizadeh and Faramarz Payvar.