About the Musicians - Our Influences / Inspiration - Contact Us
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^ The Musicians
Darvak is a group of musicians who've been playing Iranian musics in San Diego since 1985. Their goal - in addition to friendship and having fun making music - is to make Iranian musics accessible to young people and non-Iranians. Darvak plays once a semester at San Diego State University (SDSU) for the music appreciation classes.
Alex Ali Ashkān Behnām Farhād Farzāneh Gōlsanam Jāni Kāmron Mahmood Mahnāz Mahvash Mehrānā Moein Nimā Rāmin Rezā Richard Shohreh Tahmīneh William Zohā
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Rezā is a composer, poet, and producer (1999 "Arash, the Archer" CD and stage production). Rezā cofounded Darvak in 1985. |
Ali, in addition to playing many percussion instruments, has knowledge of the vocal radīf and poetry. Ali cofounded Darvak in 1985. |
Farhād was a music composition major at SDSU. Since graduating in 1984 he has continued studying music. Farhād cofounded Darvak in 1985. |
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Farzaneh has studied daf with Pejmān Hadādi and singing with master Hossein Omoumi. Her first performance with Darvak was in 2001. |
I'm proud that my son Kāmron - a student of Pejmān Hadādi - joins us on tombak. He first played with Darvak in 1998. |
Nimā Heydarī: fretless bass guitar I'm proud that my nephew
Nima - a student of Damien Dunmore - joins us on bass. |
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Mahmood Shamshiri: voice, ney |
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Mahnaz's
first performance with Darvak was in 2002. She is currently studying daf and
setar. |
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Moein brings to Darvak a virtousic voice and a good
understanding of the vocal styles in Iranian traditional music. Moein is now involved with other projects. Jani brings
a rich heritage of Kurdish folk music to Darvak. He's been singing with
Darvak since 1990, and is featured on Darvak's first recording. Jani now lives in Washington D.C. |
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Behnām Nōzarī: fretless bass guitar Behnām and
Farhād have been playing music together since 1985, although the idea of
using the bass in Iranian tuning came in 1995. Behnam moved to Atlanta in
1999. |
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Alex has
played with Darvak starting in 1994. Alex is a doctoral student (music) at
UCSD. |
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Gōlsanam has
studied santūr since she was 7. She has been a student of master Bahram Khayyat.
Her first performance with Darvak was in 2000. |
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Richard
holds a Master's degree in Ethnomusicology from SDSU. He is a versatile
drummer, composer, and sound-designer. Richard and Farhad have been playing
music since 1985. |
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Ashkān Ghafouri: tār |
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Ramin Zoufonoun was born in
1962 in Tehran. He began playing the tar at the age of 18. He owes much of
his knowledge of the Persian modal system to his father and mentor, Mahmoud
Zoufonoun. Ramin's strength and primary interest is in the area of improvisation
on the Persian-tuned piano, as well as the tar. Ramin has been performing in
numerous cities across the United States as a soloist and as a member of
Persian and cross-cultural ensembles. He also continues to record with
Persian and jazz musicians. Ramin holds a degree in physics and is employed
as a Wireless System Design Engineer. |
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^Contact Us
For more information, please call (619)
318-1286
or send us email
^ Our Influences / Inspiration
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Masters of Iranian music: |
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Masters of other musics: |
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