Darvish Ali Mohammad Salimi

Ali Mohammad Salimi was born in Azar 1327 SH (November/December 1948) in the village of Changar Jalilvand in the county of Eslamabad-e Gharb.

From childhood he was captivated by the sounds of music, and religious and local songs and hymns fascinated him. As a teenager he was looking for a path that would lead him into the delightful world of music. Listening to cassettes of kalam (the sacred hymns of the Yarsan) introduced him to the voice of the late master Amirza Seyd Ali Kafashian, one of the outstanding and renowned maqam experts (maqams being the traditional melodic pieces of the tanbur) and tanbur players of Yarsan ritual music. It was as if he had found what he had been missing. Master Kafashian's lovely voice poured drop by drop, like sweet water, into the young Ali Mohammad, yet it did not quench his thirst. He was thirsty to learn and looked for someone who could teach him the ABC of tanbur playing.

On a short trip he got to know the late master Seyed Vali Hosseini in person, and within a short time showed that, besides great eagerness, he had an extraordinary talent for playing the tanbur. This acquaintance marked the beginning of a deep relationship between the master and his eager pupil, and beyond that it brought the two families together. In Seyed Vali Hosseini's school the teenage pupil was so devoted, perceptive and thoughtful that the master always spoke of him as one of his best pupils.

His visits to Seyed Vali gave the young pupil the opportunity to learn the ritual maqams of the tanbur and the ritual kalams of the Yarsan from their source, namely the Guran region and its masters.

The late Darvish Moradkhan Gurajubi and the late Darvish Alimir Darvishi were other masters of maqam knowledge and maqam singing in whose presence Darvish Ali Mohammad learned, besides tanbur playing and maqam singing, the secrets of interpreting the Yarsan daftars (the Yarsan sacred books). His eagerness to learn was so deeply rooted in him that he used every opportunity to glean from the knowledge of the elders and masters of his time.

His friendship with Darvish Ali Mirza Nazari was another of the opportunities Darvish Ali Mohammad used to complete what he had learned.

A great love of the Yarsan ritual maqams, gleaning from great and renowned masters, eagerness to learn, a keen intelligence in grasping religious interpretations, and a rich talent for tanbur playing and maqam singing brought Ali Mohammad to the level of a master while still young. Even so, he has never considered himself beyond the need to learn, and he always regards himself as indebted to his masters, who introduced him to the sweet spring of the maqams of kalam and tanbur.

Alongside his own learning, Master Ali Mohammad Salimi has devoted himself to teaching what he learned from renowned masters. Many pupils have been trained in his school, among them his brother Valad Salimi, his nephew (sister's son) Sirous Karami, and his children Peyman and Darvish Salimi.

So that enthusiasts may benefit from his lovely voice and masterly tanbur playing, this rare maqam expert and maqam singer has, together with his pupils, recorded 72 tanbur maqams and prepared them for release, but so far he has not succeeded in obtaining a distribution permit.

Source: Telegram channel “Navaye Tanbur”, 13 July 2017.