Faraz Kaviani, one of the outstanding and thoughtful players of the tanbur’s modern era, was born in 1980 in the town of Sahneh in Kermanshah, one of the ancient cradles of Iran’s mystical music. From 1989, when he was only nine years old, he devoted himself to learning the tanbur and soon showed his brilliant talent in this field.
In 1994, in his first artistic steps, he won first place in tanbur solo playing in the school competitions of Kermanshah province. A year later, under the guidance of the esteemed Master Mozaffar Berenji, his intellectual and musical path took on a new shape. He then entered the Tehran Conservatory of Music to study tar performance (the tar being a long-necked Persian lute) and benefited from renowned masters such as Behrouz Hemmati, Fariborz Azizi and Mohammadreza Ebrahimi.
Faraz Kaviani grew out of the musical school of the Yarsan, a Kurdish mystical faith, yet on his path he has striven to create a new language for the tanbur. His deep study of the book Maqam-haye Bastani-ye Tanbur (“The Ancient Maqams of the Tanbur”; maqams are the traditional melodic pieces of the tanbur repertoire) was a turning point in his intellectual and spiritual journey, raising his playing to a new level of inwardness and depth of meaning.
In his works he has struck a magnificent balance between tradition and innovation and has recreated ancient melodies with a fresh expression. The well-known album Maqam-haye Bastani-ye Tanbur is among his brilliant achievements.
Alongside this work, other albums of his have been released, including:
Hobut (“The Fall”)
Zemestan dar Tanhayi (“Winter in Solitude”)
Maqam-haye Bastani-ye Tanbur
On the album Maqam-haye Bastani-ye Tanbur, Kaviani performs authentic tanbur melodies together with Adel Kamali and Ali Kamali. Pieces such as Soltan Dineh, Agha Yar Davud and Haqq Davud are among the highlights of this work: melodies in which the voice of the tanbur is the cry of the seeker’s soul — a song that speaks of the passing away of the self and of abiding in eternity.
Even as an innovator, Faraz Kaviani has remained faithful to the legacy of the spiritual masters of the tanbur. His music is full of a sense of presence, mysticism and humility: a sound that rises from the depths of the soul and speaks to the people of the heart.
Today Faraz Kaviani is regarded as one of the brilliant and promising figures of Iran’s mystical music: an artist who, with a mystic’s vision and a contemporary voice, has introduced the timeless sound of the tanbur to a new generation of listeners.
