Ali-Akbar Shahnazi

Ali-Akbar Shahnazi was an Iranian musician and a master player of the tar instrument.

Biography

Ali Akbar Shahnazi was born in Tehran, Qajar Iran, on 12 May 1897. His father, Mirza Hossein-Qoli, another master of the tar, named him Ali-Akbar according to a very old tradition: the grandson should be named as his grandfather. His younger brother Abdolhossein Shahnazi was also a master of the tar.
He recorded many pieces with noted vocalists of his time such as Abolhassan Eghbal-Azar and Hossein-Ali Nakisa. He collaborated with other masters of his time such as Reza Mahjubi and Hossein Tehrāni. He not only taught his students his father's radif collection, but also composed a beautiful radif, which he named radif-e dowre-ye āli and taught it to his students too.
Shahnazi comes from a music family called in Persian Khanedan-e Honar, literally meaning "art dynasty".
Shahnazi died on 17 March 1985 at the age of 87.