Yadollah Alqasi

Yadollah Alqasi was born in 1327 SH (1948/49) in the Gahvareh district. At the age of five or six he came to know the tanbur through his late brother Seyfollah Alqasi, who was a tanbur maker and player. He continued learning the tanbur by ear, following the way the masters of that time performed the maqams (traditional melodic pieces or modes of the tanbur).

From 1347 to 1349 SH (1968–1971) he was a teacher in the villages of Guran, and at the same time he held gatherings of tanbur playing and kalam singing (kalam: the sacred hymns of the Yarsan) attended by the late Darvish Alimir Darvishi and Darvish Jahangir Darvishi, Seyed Safar, Seyed Shahmorad Gurajubi, Mr Seyed Abdollah Qanbari and a few other tanbur enthusiasts.

After moving to Kermanshah in 1354 SH (1975/76) he was invited to the Kermanshah office of Culture and Art (Farhang-o Honar) and worked in the tanbur ensemble led by Iraj Khademi as the group's lead player and singer, performing in most of the country's provinces. In 1356 SH (1977/78), at the invitation of the then director-general of Kermanshah Radio and Television, he was charged with forming the Kermanshah tanbur ensemble, which gave several successful performances in Tehran at the Niavaran Cultural Centre. It is worth noting that when this group was formed, Ali Akbar Moradi was one of its members and its soloist.

Finally, in earlier years Yadollah Alqasi twice took part in the tanbur festival as a veteran and a juror.

Source: Telegram channel “Navaye Tanbur”, 25 April 2018.