Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian was born on the first of January, 2002 in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran. Kermanshah is the home of the tanbur, a pear shaped lute whose origins can be traced in the region for more than 5000 years. The Yarsans, a millennium sect of Kurdish people, have long made this region of the country their home. Their mystic rituals (jâm) are performed with tanbur, and the sacred music they play is a heritage that is steeped in one thousand years of tradition. Mostafa’s father, Morteza, was a percussion player whose main musical instrument was the dâf, a frame drum. At the age of twenty, Morteza started learning tanbur crafting, and it is in these overlapping worlds of tradition, family, faith, and culture that Mostafa is born.

Listen to Mostafa Heydarian’s new album “Noor-e Vojood”: https://radiokhiyaban.bandcamp.com/album/noor-e-vojood

The Quietus “Album of the Week“: https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/album-of-the-week/noor-e-vojood-mohammad-mostafa-heydarian-review/