Veteran Iranian musician Dariush Safvat dies at 85

TEHRAN,April 18(MNA) -- Veteran musician and teacher of Iranian traditional music Dariush Safvat died of natural causes at the age of 85 at his home in Karaj on Monday night. Several outstanding Iranian musicians including Parviz Meshkatian and Majid Kiani studied under Safvat, who himself was one of the disciples of Abolhassan Saba, a prominent master of Iranian traditional music. Safvat was born in Shiraz and his father was his first teacher who taught him to play setar. Due to his close friendship with cultural figures, Safvat’s father sent him to Habib Samaei to learn to play the santur at 16. In 1947, he was employed in the Iranian finance ministry and began to study law at the University of Tehran. However, he met maestro Saba at that time and continued his studies in music with him until his death in 1957. In 1960, Safvat left Iran to study at the Institute of Musicology in Paris. He also got a Ph.D. in law at the same time. He was one of the main founders of the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Music, a nongovernmental educational institute which was established in 1968. He wrote books in Persian, English, and French. French musician and scholar Jean During and his Iranian colleague Zia Mirabdolbaghi compiled Safvat studies in “The Art of Persian Music: Lesson from Master Dariush Safvat”, which was published in 1991.