Maqami musician Abdollah Sarvar-Ahmadi dies

TEHRAN,June 20(MNA) -- One the few Iranian maqami music masters Abdollah Sarvar-Ahmadi died after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor in a hospital of the city of Torbat Jam on Monday. He was 63 years old. He learned music from his parents, both of whom were masters of the maqami music. Sarvar-Ahmadi studied the basic principles of performing dotar, a stringed instrument used in the maqami music in the Khorasan region, from his mother. He then met Mohammad Soleimani and several other masters of the maqami music which helped him to improve his skills. He created new maqams of Soda-ye Gol, Feraq and Veda’. His credits include six albums. He won several awards for his solo performances during Iran’s Fajr International Music Festival. He also gave performances during the international festivals in Avignon, southeast France, and Dusseldorf, West Germany. Sarvar-Ahmadi was also a prominent dotar maker. He followed Gholamhossein Darvish, a Qajar era musician, and called his dotar Qalandar (dervish), which he used in most of his concerts. He is survived by his four sons and three daughters, which all are very skilful at playing the dotar. The maqami music is common in the regions of Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan and Bushehr. Maqami music is connected to the traditions and thoughts of an ethnic group living in the particular regions. A maqam is a specific musical scale combined with characteristic melodic elements or motifs, played following traditional formats, which together forms a complete system for the melodic and tonal structure of a musical performance.