Veteran Musician Tavakol Honored

Veteran musician Fazlollah Tavakol was granted the first-class degree in art, equivalent to a doctoral degree, at a ceremony to honor him at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Friday, December 9.

Two of his new musical albums were also unveiled at the event, Mehr News Agency reported.

Born in Tehran, Tavakol, 74, is a master of violin and santur - Iranian instrument similar to hammered dulcimer - and a famous composer of Persian traditional music. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Cambridge; however, music has been his only occupation throughout his life.

He started learning music from the age of six. His father bought him a santur when he was 8 years and he learned Persian music under the tutorship of Master Ali Tajvidi (1919-2006). Tavakol’s genius in playing santur convinced his master to invite him to the radio orchestra when he was only 14.

At the age of 16 he joined the famous radio program Golha (flowers), which broadcast the finest classical Persian music by the best singers and musicians of the time (1956-1979), and performed as a soloist accompanying many well-known singers including Mahmoud Mahmoudi Khansari and Akbar Golpayegani.

After returning from the UK in 1966, Tavakol resumed his cooperation with radio, this time also as a composer. His production of new melodies saw many other singers keen to work with him.

For almost 15 years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he kept away from music; however, in 1993 he established a new orchestra at the IRIB together with violin virtuoso Asadollah Malek (1941-2002) and recorded several solo and duet performances.

His music is pleasant, popular and up to date so his compositions are welcomed by different generations. Tavakol collaborated with Golpayegani again in 1993 in two albums and four years later his first album with the renowned traditional singer Alireza Eftekhari was released and was followed by more albums in later years.

Several art and cultural figures attended the honoring ceremony including art deputy at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ali Moradkhani, Director of House of Music Hamidreza Nourbakhsh, veteran classical singer Nader Golchin, Iranian-Armenian composer and conductor Loris Cheknavorian, veteran vocalist Pari Maleki and traditional singer Salar Aqili, among others.

Some of Tavakol’s productions were also performed on stage for the audience.