Mohammad Reza Shajarian

Vocalist Mohammad Reza Shajarian is one of the most important and indomitable forces in Iranian (Persian) classical music. A performer for more than 40 years, he has won fans around the globe with his flawless technique, powerful tone and superb sense of emotional nuance.

Born in 1940 in the northern Iranian city of Mashhad, Shajarian began singing the local folk music of his home province of Khorasan at the age of 5 under his father's tutelage. By 12, however, he was learning the rigorously structured Persian classical repertoire, known as the radif, and the country's centuries-old tasnifs (songs).

His study included work with the masters Ahmad Ebadi, Esmaeel Mehrtash and Abdollah Davami, and his professional career began in 1959 at Radio Khorasan. Shajarian went on to work at the National Iranian Radio and Television Organization and to teach at Tehran University. In 1999, he was awarded the Picasso Medal by Unesco.

Currently, Shajarian spends much of his time touring the world with two other legendary Iranian artists, kemencheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor and tar master Hossein Alizadeh. The three, plus Shajarian's son and protégé Homayoun Shajarian, perform together as the Masters of Persian Music, and the group has earned two Grammy nominations for their albums Without You and Faryad (both on World Village). While he has recorded extensively in Iran, many of his albums are not easily accessible, but in the U.S. World Village put out Bidad (Injustice) and Traditional Crossroads issued Night Silence Desert, a disc of music from Khorasan featuring Shajarian and Kalhor. —Anastasia Tsioulcas