Mohammad-Reza Shajarian

Shajarian as a teenager

Mohammad-Reza Shajarian was born on 23 September 1940 in Mashhad, Iran. His father, Mehdi, was a Quran qari, as was his grandfather Ali Akbar. His mother was Afsar Shahverdiani, who died in 2007.[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]

Shajarian (second from left) at a concert in London

• Raast-Panjgaah concert with Mohammad Reza Lotfi in Raast-panjgaah (1976).
• Chehre be Chehre with Mohammad Reza Lotfi in Navaa (1977).[26]
• Golbang-e Shajarian, Part 1 (Bot-e Chin) features: Ali Akbar Sheida (Ballads), Fereydoun Shahbazian](Composer), Faramarz Payvar (Santur), Houshang Zarif (Tar). Part 2 (Dowlat-e Eshq) features Hassan Yousefzamani (Composer), Ahmad Ebadi (Setar), AliAsghar Bahari (Kamancheh). Poetry by Hafez, Saadi and Baba Taher (1977).[27]
• Eshgh Daanad with Mohammad Reza Lotfi in Aboo Ataa (1981).
• Aastaan e Jaanaan with Parviz Meshkatian and Naaser Farhangfar in Bayaat e Zand (Turk) & Sur (1982).[28]
• Peyvande Mehr (album) with Farhang Sharif (1984).[29]
• Bidaad with Parviz Meshkatian and the Aref Ensemble in Homaayoun (1985).[30]
• Be yaad e Aaref with Mohammad Reza Lotfi in Bayaat e Turk (1986).
• Nava – Morakkab Khaani with Parviz Meshkatian and the Aref Ensemble in Navaa, Se-gaah and Dashti (1986).
• Doud-e-Oud with Parviz Meshkatian and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in Navaa (1987).[31]
• Dastan with Parviz Meshkatian and the Aref Ensemble in Chahaar-Gah (1987).[32]
• Dastgah Chahargah (live version of Dastan) concert with Parviz Meshkatian and the Aref Ensemble recorded live in Bonn (1987).
• Ghaasedak with Parviz Meshkatian and Homayoun Shajarian (1994).
• Dar Khiaal with Majid Derakhshani in Segaah & Bayaat e Zand (Turk) (1995).
• Zemestaan Ast with Hossein Alizadeh and Keyhan Kalhor in Maahoor and Homaayoun (1999).[33]
• Night, Silence, Desert (Persian: Shab, Sokoot, Kavir) with Keyhan Kalhor based on the folk music of Khorasan. Traditional Crossroads (2000).
• Bi To Be Sar Nemishavad with the Masters of Persian Music Ensemble in Navaa and Bayaat e Kord (2002).[34]
• Faryaad with the Masters of Persian Music Ensemble in Raast-panjgaah (2003).
• Devoid Grail with Fereydoun Shahbazian in Mahour and Dashti (2004).
• Serr-e-Eshgh with Parviz Meshkatian and Mohammad Mousavi in Maahoor.
• Sepideh Album with Mohammad Reza Lotfi and Sheyda Ensemble in Maahoor.
• Cheshmeye Noush with Mohammad Reza Lotfi and Majid Khaladj in Raast-panjgaah.

Shajarian in 2008

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 2012, 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 his first commercial recording meant to represent the voice of an oppressed people in Iran.

Shajarian has indicated support for Iranians protesting against the 12 June 2009 Iranian presidential election results. 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.[36]

After Shajarian criticized the government public and sided with the Green Movement protesters, the state broadcaster IRIB 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.[37] The recital had been broadcast regularly every Ramadan since the 1979 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.[38]

In an interview in 2016, 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".[39]

Lyrics of his song "Language of Fire," issued in September 2009, — "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 2016, 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."[40][41][42]

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.[42]

Funeral ceremony of Shajarian at the Tomb of Ferdowsi, October 2020

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. A leaked clip of the documentary where 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." went viral on social media twice. Once in 2016 and again upon his death in 2020.[43] 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.[44]

In March 2016, Shajarian revealed that he had had kidney cancer for the past fifteen years.[45] He appeared with shaved hair in his Nowrouz congratulation video, published on his YouTube account.[46] Bahram Beyzai composed a poem after announcement of Shajarian's illness and described it as a sad day in happy days of Nowruz.[47]

Shajarian transferred to hospital on 27 January 2020 and had a successful surgery.[48] He was released from hospital on 25 August but was hospitalized again on 5 October.[49][50]

Shajarian's tombstone in the grounds of Tomb of Ferdowsi

Shajarian died on 8 October 2020 at the age of 80 at intensive care unit of Jam Hospital in Tehran.[51] The cause of his death was not immediately made public.[52] A private religious ceremony was held following day at Behesht-e Zahra in Tehran, before his body being transferred to Mashhad.[53] He was buried at the Tomb of Ferdowsi in Tus, Mashhad, on 10 October.[54]

In 1962, 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 1993.[55]

His second marriage was to Katayoun Khansari, sister of his son's wife, in 1995. The couple had one son, Ryan who was born in 1997 in Vancouver, Canada.[56]

• NIRT Golden Cup (1977)
• Golden Picasso Medal (1999)
• Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album (2004, 2006)
• Nushin Medal (2008)
• The UNESCO Mozart Medal[57] (2006)
• One of NPR's 50 great voices.[58] (2010)
• French National Order of the Legion of Honour (2014)
• National Order of Merit (2014)[59]
• Aga Khan Trust for Culture (2019)[60]

• National Iranian Symphony Orchestra
• Music of Iran
• List of Iranian musicians

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mohammad-Reza Shajarian.

• Official website
• Mohammad-Reza Shajarian discography at Discogs