Keyvan Kianian

Keyvan Kianian, director of the Balvashan Ensemble, was born in 1970 in Kermanshah. At 17 he began learning the tanbur with Seyed Ghadamyar Hosseini and Kamran Ataei, and he also benefited from the teaching of Seyed Khalil Alinejad.

In 1989 he was invited to work with IRIB Kermanshah (the provincial branch of Iran’s state broadcaster). Alongside playing, he also learned the craft of instrument making. In 1998 he founded the Balvashan Ensemble. The original members of the ensemble, who created the album Delbar-e Man (“My Beloved”), are: Hamid Shojaei, Nezameddin Montazeri, Behnam Moayerian, Behnam Kolahbakhsh, Shahab Vali and Hamid Shamsnia on tanbur, Ali Mobargha on tabla and Safa Shalpush on daf (frame drum). Their other albums include Penhanak (“In Secret”), as well as the new work Ava-ye Kohan (“The Ancient Voice”). He has also given numerous concerts in Iran and abroad and taken part in many festivals. (Source: Tanbur az Dirbaz ta Konun, “The Tanbur from Ancient Times to Today”)