TEHRAN – On the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the passing of acclaimed Iranian musician and santur player Parviz Meshkatian, a ceremony was held at Tehran’s Arasbaran Cultural Center on Tuesday. 

The event featured a screening of clips showcasing Meshkatian's musical endeavors, as well as speeches by music artists highlighting his life and accomplishments.

Additionally, the Iranian traditional music group ‘Qamar’ performed Meshkatian's notable works, led by vocalist Hamidreza Nurbakhsh and supervised by Navid Dehqan.

Born in Neyshabur in 1955, Meshkatian began his musical training at the age of six with his father Hassan Meshkatian, who was a professional tar and santur player.

He learned the radif, the total collection of more than 200 gushehs - traditional melodic entities - in all 12 dastgahs, studying under Iranian maestros Nur-Ali Borumand and Dariush Safvat.

He was also a student of Mohammad-Taqi Masudieh, Abdollah Davami, Saeid Hormozi, and Yusef Forutan, who helped him improve his skills.

After some years, he became one of Iran’s most prominent musicians.

In 1977, Meshkatian founded the Aref Ensemble with Hossein Alizadeh and Mohammadreza Lotfi. The group performed many concerts in Iran, Europe, and the Americas.
He also performed with some of Iran’s greatest vocalists like Mohammadreza Shajarian, Shahram Nazeri, and Iraj Bastami.

The collaborations resulted in the creation of the albums “Bidad”, “The Court of the Beloved”, “Mystery of Love”, “Nava”, and “Dastan”, which are all very popular in Iran.

SAB/