TEHRAN – Iranian traditional musician Mohammad Esmaili passed away on Sunday after a long illness. 

Born in 1934 in Tehran, Esmaili was one of the most well-known tombak players in the country. Encouraged by his uncles (Morteza and Mustafa Gorginzadeh; trumpet and clarinet players), he went to the National High School of Music in 1951 where he began learning how to play tombak from Hossein Tehrani.

Hossein Tehrani (1912-1974) is known as a pioneer of playing the tombak in 20th-century Persian music. The tombak was considered an accompanying instrument until the pioneering work of Hossein Tehrani in the 1950s. 

Esmaili has composed many tombak pieces adopted from the melodies of Iranian music and has performed these pieces on several occasions in Tehran's Rudaki Hall, always gaining a very warm reception.

The tombak, tonbak, or zarb is an Iranian goblet drum. It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music. The tombak is normally positioned diagonally across the torso while the player uses one or more fingers and/or the palm of the hand on the drumhead, often near the drumhead's edge.

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