Yadollah Ashrafi

Ostad Yadollah Ashrafi, son of Shir-Mohammad, was a tanbur maker and player. He was born in 1921/22 (1300 SH) in the village of Fash near Kangavar in Kermanshah province and lived to about 86, working until the end of his life. Instrument making in Fash — today one of the largest centres for making tanbur, tar and setar in Iran — began with him.

From woodwork to instrument making

His father was a farmer, a wood craftsman and a devotee of Imam Ali. Following him, Yadollah turned to woodwork and for years made doors, windows, tables and chairs. Then, given the special place of the tanbur among the Kurds of Kermanshah province, he began making tanburs, and later tars and setars as well. His instruments were known in Kermanshah, Hamadan, Shiraz, Tehran and the north of Iran.

In 1987/88 he went to Seyed Khalil Alinejad in Sahneh to deepen his knowledge.

Playing

Ashrafi also played the tanbur, performing the maqams Tarz-e Majnuni and Saqi-nameh in a distinctive, moving style. While working he would softly recite Rumi, and sometimes Hafez and Saadi. Siavash Ashrafi, a close relative, carries on his style of playing.

Students and legacy

He was a gifted teacher of instrument making. According to his students, more than 300 families in Fash now make instruments, all directly or indirectly his students, and perhaps more than a thousand people earn their living through the craft he founded. Fereydoun Haghighi is also one of his students, as was his nephew Mehrab Ashrafi, who learned to make tanbur and setar from him.

Character

He is remembered as sociable, hospitable and generous; he often gave instruments to students who could not pay, asking only for their prayers. Though slight in old age, he worked faster than the young. He often said he wished his coffin to be carried out from his workshop — that is, to keep making instruments until his last breath.

Source: a tribute by one of his students, who studied with him for a year in 1988 on tanbur-music.ir.