Kambiz Mohitmafi is a teacher and player of the tanbur and daf, born in mid-Aban 1347 (early November 1968) in Qazvin, where his ancestors had also lived. He learned the tanbur from Seyed Khalil Alinejad and Seyed Amrollah Shah-Ebrahimi and was one of the tanbur players of the Baba Taher ensemble.
First encounter with the tanbur
His family held their own ritual gatherings, but the tanbur was not played at them. In 1981, when a group from Sahneh came to his grandfather’s jamkhaneh, twelve-year-old Kambiz heard the tanbur for the first time and was captivated. There were no tanbur players in Qazvin then; a relative who travelled to Tehran to study with Darvish Amir Hayati sometimes took him along. Through Nourbakhsh Taherian, who had come to Qazvin, he met Seyed Khalil.
Teachers
1986: a trip to Sahneh to Seyed Khalil, and getting to know its holy places.
1987: with Seyed Amrollah Shah-Ebrahimi, who played and recorded the tanbur maqams for him — this is how he learned maqam playing in its authentic style.
With Seyed Khalil
Seyed Khalil came to Tehran in 1990 and from 1992 lived in the house of Mohitmafi’s sister in Saadat Abad, which brought the two closer. Mohitmafi gave his first official concert with Seyed Khalil in 1993.
1994: tanbur on the album Sana-ye Ali.
1996: recording the album Ayin-e Mastan with the Baba Taher ensemble.
2000: travelling with Seyed Khalil to Sweden.
After Seyed Khalil
After the death of Seyed Khalil, who was “like the sun” to him, he largely withdrew from professional work and played mostly in private. He now teaches daf and tanbur in Qazvin. The interview-based documentary Sayeh-ye Hich (Shadow of Nothing) is about him.
The album Biqarar-e Yar
On the album Biqarar-e Yar he plays daf and tanbur. It was published by Part and is hard to find.
Instagram: @kambiz.m.mafi2022
Source: his profile on tanbur-music.ir.
