Morteza Mahjubi

Morteza Mahjubi (Persian: مرتضى محجوبى‎‎) was born in 1900, in Tehran, Iran.[2][3] His father, Abbas Ali (Persian: عباسعلى‎‎), known as Nazer (Persian: ناظر‎‎), played the Ney. His mother, Fakhr-o-SSaadaat (Persian: فخر السادات‎‎), played the piano. Mahjubi's parents sent him, along with his older brother Reza, to Hossein Hang Afarin who taught Reza the violin and Morteza the piano.[3]

At the age of ten, Morteza performed a concert accompanying Aref Qazvini in cinema Farus (Persian: سينماى فاروس‎‎).[3] In the following years, he went on to perform with other musicians including Darvish Khan, Seyyed Hossein Taherzadeh (Persian: سيد حسين طاهرزاده‎‎), and Hossein Esmail Zadeh (Persian: حسين اسماعيل زاده‎‎).[1]

His first teacher was Hossein Hang Afarin, from whom he learned the preliminary studies. He was then sent to Mahmoud Mofakham to further his studies of the piano and radif.[3] He also studied with other musicians, including Darvish Khan, Hossein Esmail Zadeh, Hajikhan Zarbgir, and Seyyed Hossein Taherzadeh.[2]

Mahjubi's performance style was improvisational. According to Navvab Safa, he never planned or prepared for his performances, and if he played a piece ten times he would play it differently each time.[4]

Mahjubi has composed many tasnifs (ballads), pīshdarāmads (rhythmic preludes), and rengs (rhythmic pieces). A noteworthy example is his composition "Man az Rooze Azal Divane Boodam" ("I Was Bewildered From Pre-eternity"). This tasnif has been performed by Gholam-Hossein Banan.[5] While Mahjubi was unfamiliar with western notation, he devised a notation system similar to Siaaq (a set of symbols used in premodern times to note the weight of merchandise or monetary figures), which he used to transcribe musical ideas.[6]

Mahjubi had many students the most famous of whom is Fakhri Malekpour who studied with Mahjubi over a period of twelve years.[6]