Massoud Shaari – Composer and setar virtuoso

²/₇ ABOUT

He and the ancient instrument

From the very childhood, Massoud Shaari was deeply attached to Persian music and started learning Santoor at the age of thirteen. After a while, he turned to learn Setar and Tar and has continued playing the Setar as his main instrument ever since.

He was extensively taught by some of the leading Persian Professional masters. The ones who influenced him most, were among others Hossein Alizadeh, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, and Maestro Ebadi.

Massoud Shaari established an ensemble base on Setar, and has used his invested instruments such as Delroba, Setar-e-Bam and Setar-e-Zir in their performances and recordings.

Shaari has always tried to reconstruct the works of the pioneers of music and high goal resulted in creation of different albums such as Shabahang or Karevan-e-Saba and with his complete control over traditional Persian music, he has tried to restore the almost forgotten melodies and rhythms of the traditional Persian music, and to confront it with other musical cultures and published several other albums such as Awaiting, Journey, In the shade of the Wind, Sunset, Rohab, Niavaran to mention a few.

Besides his musical career as a Soloist and Composer, Shaari Has Always endeavored to teach Persian classical music and is involved in tuition since 1981 in centers directed by private and public sectors.

He has trained many apprentices following his artistic school and has established the Hamsaz Music Institute and leads this institute in Tehran. As an Academic experience, he has been working as a lecturer at Azad University of Art in Tehran for 20 years.

³/₇Compilations

Writing pieces of music is a public education

Several Books have been published by Massoud Shaari about teaching the Setar and also about the structure of the classical Persian music. His latest publication, The Structure of DASTGAH in Iranian Music, is the result of his longstanding research and practical experience in this field. He has also been a member of the jury for different Festivals and competitions such as the Fajr Festival, Youth Music Festival, Improvisation Festival. And for the best album of the year in Iran.

Shaari is the composer of the Persian part of the piece called Peace Anthem for the 3^rd Millennium which won the first prize among 84 countries in the international music competition Euromusica in July 2000.

⁴/₇Festivals

Always ready to perform for music lovers

Massoud Shaari has played in numerous all over the world as a soloist and also with several orchestras and ensembles in Festivals and venues such as:

FES Musiques sacres du monde

Morocco

Beiteddine Art festival

Beirut

Musiques du Monde Theatre de la Ville

Paris

Musica dei Popoli

Florence

Singel international Art Campus

Belgium

Fajr International Music Festival

Tehran

Nieuwe musiek uit het midden-oosten

Amsterdam

Theatre du Soleil

Paris

Luz del Oriente

Madrid

Les Nouvelles Musiques

Grenoble

Performances and lecture concerts at the University of Music abd performing Art, Graz

⁵/₇GALLERY

Moments of a musician in front of the camera

Besides his musical career as a Soloist and Composer, Shaari Has Always endeavored to teach Persian classical music and is involved in tuition since 1981 in centers directed by private and public sectors.