National orchestra conductor Alinaghi Vaziri is a legend in Iranian music but his contribution has remained relatively unknown.
Farhad Fakhreddini, speaking at the commemoration of Vaziri in Babol last Thursday, said 93 years of his life involved numerous "professional adventures and he has left us valuable works of music."
He said Vaziri was the first person who rewrote 'radif' in the form of musical notes, IRNA reported.
Radif (meaning order in Persian) is a collection of ancient melodic notes preserved through many generations by oral tradition. It organizes the melodies in a number of different tonal spaces called Dastgah or musical modal system.
Master Vaziri, breached the tradition of music being exclusive to a certain social class and brought it to the ordinary people, Fakhreddini asserted.
True Disciple
Introducing Keivan Saket as a true disciple of his master's work, he said Vaziri's art now flows from Saket's dexterous fingers.
Saket, also a well-known musician, said Vaziri's work cannot be understood in just a congress or speech.
He said in 1977, Vaziri sold his house to establish the Vaziri Cultural Foundation where he promoted Iranian music through classes, competitions and festivals.
Saket said they are determined to revive the activities of the foundation of which he is secretary.
Great Masters
Alinaghi Vaziri was born in a family of musicians where he learned to play the tar and violin with his uncle Mirza-Hossein-Gholi and Master Darvish-Khan. He later travelled to France and Germany to study classical music.
After returning to Iran, he trained countless musicians and was the first to teach the art academically. Abolhassan Saba, Ruhollah Khaleghi, Mousa Maroufi, Hosseinali Mallah, and Ahmad Foroutan-Rad are some of the celebrated Iranian musical masters who were among Vaziri's pupils.
Presenting Iranian music to global cultural and artistic communities, promoting polyphonic music instead of homophonic, writing sheet music (scores) and increasing the number of tar's frets from 25 to 28 are among Vaziri's contribution to Iranian music. He also developed tar into three new versions of Soprano, Alto, and Bass.
