Amirza Seyd Ali Kafashian

Amirza Seyd Ali Kafashian, known as Mirza Seyali, was one of the great and outstanding tanbur players and masters of the maqam (the traditional melodic pieces of the tanbur) in Guran.

Mirza Seyali was a virtuoso player with a distinctive style of singing the majlesi (assembly) maqams; his warm and captivating voice in performing the tanbur maqams still places him among the most beloved kalam (the sacred hymns of the Yarsan) singers and maqam masters among the lovers of Yari music.

Amirza, son of Hossein, was born in 1301 SH (1922/23) and was a descendant of Darvish Abbas Kerendi, one of the Chehel-tan (Forty) dervishes of the Heydari. Although he was one of the wealthy men of Kerend, after the death of his wife he renounced material things and lived in the Heydari tekyeh until the end of his life. Amirza was also the maktab (traditional school) teacher of Agha Seyed Nasreddin and Agha Seyed Samaddin Heydari.

It is said that when Amirza sang kalam his voice was so clear and powerful that all the inhabitants of the village of Tutshami became aware of his singing. The radio and television of the time repeatedly invited him to record his works, but, given the artistic climate of that era, he declined.

Amirza passed away on 18 Esfand 1356 SH (9 March 1978). His tomb lies in the village of Tutshami at a place called Dar Seyed Nasir, where great figures such as Seyed Vali Hosseini and Darvish Hasan Kharabati also rest.

On Amirza’s tombstone is inscribed a poem by Ka Karim Kakaei, himself one of the great masters of the tanbur. Following the Persian explanation given in the post, the verse reads, in translation: “Alas for Amirza, reader of the daftar (the Yarsan sacred books) and descendant of the Chehel-tan, whose abode is the Heydari tekyeh – Amirza, who in singing was as sweet-voiced as Nakisa (the great and melodious singer at the court of the Sasanian king Khosrow Parviz), and in playing as masterful as Barbad (the great musician at the court of Khosrow Parviz), learned, able and sweet of speech.”

In another version of this text (its earlier posting on the channel), Amirza’s ancestor is named as Darvish Reza Kerendi and the author of the tombstone poem as Ka Karim Manhuei.

Source: Telegram channel “Navaye Tanbur”, 5 November 2016 and 9 March 2017; quoting the book Zamineh-ye Shenakht-e Tanbur by Heydar Kaki.