Nour Ali Elahi

Life and education

Nour Ali Elahi, also known as Ostad (“Master”) Elahi, was born on 11 September 1895 in the village of Jeyhunabad in Sahneh County and died in Tehran on 19 October 1974. A musician and researcher, he learned the tanbur from his father, and besides the tanbur he mastered several other instruments, including the ney (end-blown reed flute), the daf (frame drum), the divan (a large saz), the Turkish tanbur and the setar (a small Persian lute).

His place in the history of the tanbur

Perhaps Nour Ali Elahi’s most important contribution to the history of the tanbur lies in his original and creative improvisations, a way of playing that was entirely uncommon among tanbur players of his time. Artists and music scholars such as Maurice Béjart, Yehudi Menuhin, Mousa Maroufi and Jean During regarded him as a great musician and a master of the tanbur.

Elahi also made important changes to the instrument itself. By adding a third string he gave the tanbur many new and expressive sounds and colours, which he combined with his own distinctive ornamentation and his unique technique of using all five fingers of both hands. In 2014 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held an exhibition on his work, The Sacred Lute: The Art of Ostad Elahi.

Works

• Tanbur Solo (“Spiritual Dances”)

• Tanbur Solo 1 & 2

• Bidari (“Awakening”)

• Celestial Harmonies and Mystical Supplication

• Dialogue with the Celestial Beloved

• Shor