Importance of Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi & His Radif

Hi, my name is Shahin Shahbazi and I’m fundraising for the publication of a documentary about Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi and the importance of him and his Radif in Persian music.

Maestro Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi was born in a family known as the family of art in Persian music. Radif, as the heart and base of Persian music and the most prestigious repertoire of teaching Iranian classical music established and compiled by his family. Radif is a collection of Iranian musical songs and melodies well known as Dastgah that was called Maqam around five hundred years ago. These songs which are over two hundred and fifty years old have been transmitted orally (heart to heart) by musicians throughout the history of several thousand years of Persian music.

Therefore, in the study of ethnomusicology, Iranian music is among the most important music in the world. For this reason, the Radif has been registered by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Radif, during the Qajar period, has been Compiled and edited for the first time by Shahnazi's father Agha Hosseinghli, and his uncle Mirza Abdullah. They also learned the Radif from their father, Agha Ali Akbar Farahani. Shahnazi, in his Radif, created new melodies and harmonies in traditional Iranian music that did not exist before him. This increases the ability of the Radif, which is inherently metric music, to perform with an ensemble.

Shahnazi is the most authoritative narrator to the next generation. Despite much that he learned from his family; he also created a new narrative of Radif which is now being taught as an advanced course. The advanced Radif was created for tar players and has many rhythmic pieces, like Zarbi, Chaharmezrab, and unique modulations which have not been common before Shahnazi. Radif is usually played by a single instrument or song.

Shahin Shahbazi and his friends in Nafir ensemble, for the first time, performed and recorded Ali Akbar Shahnazi's advanced Radif course with an Iranian instrumental ensemble.

This project, which lasted five years, has special artistic and historical significance:

Shahnazi showed a new world to musicians from the perspective of Iranian modal music by creating an advanced Radif. Today, the greatest masters of Iranian music and tar players such as Houshang Zarif, Hossein Alizadeh, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Dariush Talaei, and many others were his students.

Undoubtedly, the absence of a person like Ali Akbar Shahnazi was a great loss for Iranian classical music and maybe its direction would change. Therefore, it is very important to study his works and especially his Radif.

This documentary, with the presence of prominent musicians and masters, deals with the importance of this Radif that was created by maestro Shahbazi. The ideation and innovation of Shahin Shahbazi and Nafir ensemble in its group performance and accompaniments are also important points in this documentary.