March 5, 2004

I would like to nominate my teacher and mentor Ostad Behroozinia as Iranian of the day…

Hossein Behroozinia (barbat.us) was born in 1962 in Tehran Iran. He studied Tar with Reza Vohdaney, Barbat with Mansour Nariman and the Radif with Mohammad Reza Lotfi. He was a student at the Conservatory of Persian Music, and later the Music Director of Ensemble Khaleghi as well as the Director of Music Education at the Center of the Preservation Persian Music. Behroozinia is the greatest living barbat player from Iran and noted for his brilliant compositions and powerful improvisations on this ancient lute, which is the predecessor of the ud, and various European lutes. He has also performed and collaborated with many of the prominent music ensembles in Iran including Aref and Mowlana and joined Dastan Ensemble in 1992.

Hossein Behroozinia has played a key role in restoring a Persian musical identity to the instrument which has been under the influence of Arabic music for hundreds of years. (Among Arabs, the Barbat is referred to as Oud or "Wood", the instrument which has taken to the Arab world after the advent of Islam in Iran). Hossein Behroozinia currently resides in Vancouver, Canada where he teaches the Barbat. The L.A. Times describes Behroozinia's work as "spectacular musicianship."

Ali Lotfi

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