TEHRAN – Accomplished Iranian ney player Hassan Nahid died at his home as a result of complications related to old age. He was 79.

Nahid began performing the ney, a kind of flute made of reed that is often used in traditional Iranian music, from childhood when he was 10.

He developed his professional skills in courses on Iranian music with masters such as tombak virtuoso Hossein Tehrani and ney player Hassan Kasai.

Learning from such big names led Nahid to perform in top ensembles and orchestras working with famous vocalists, including Hossein Qavami, Abdolvahab Shahidi and Mohammadreza Shajarian.

He also performed with violinist Asadollah Malek, santur player Manuchehr Jahanbaglu and several other top musicians in memorable concerts.

He also worked with the Darvish Orchestra of Iranian radio. Then he joined Rudaki Orchestra, a major Iranian ensemble comprising prominent composers and players such as Ebrahim Mansuri, Habibollah Badiei, Ali Tajvidi, Ahmad Ebadi, Reza Varzandeh, Ali-Asghar Bahari and Farhad Fakhreddini. 

In 1962, vocalist Hossein Qavami invited Nahid to work with Golha, a professional music program of Tehran Radio that had many top musicians.

He also worked with the Golha Orchestra under conductor Ruhollah Khaleqi, the Saba Orchestra under conductor Hossein Dehlavi, and the Payvar Ensemble led by santur player Faramarz Payvar.

With Nahid, the ensembles and orchestras gave numerous concerts in Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and several other countries.

He recorded the albums “Gol-o-Ney” (“Flower & Ney”) featuring several solos and duets and “Avaye Ney” (“Song of Ney”), which contains his solo performances.  

In May 2018, Nahid said that he could not perform ney anymore due to a tooth implant operation he had several years ago, which caused a deformity of his jaws.    

Nahid’s skills were developed under the influence of ney virtuoso Hassan Kasai. However, Nahid once said that each player has his/her own style in performing an instrument and added, “I never imitated the late Kasai and I had my own style of performing and did many solos.”     

Photo: Ney virtuoso Hassan Nahid in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW