Music, a breakthrough value | Sohrab Pournazeri | TEDxTehran

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Iranian musician, Sohrab Pournazeri who can’t remember life before music or imagine life without it, discusses the value of a work of art and how can we preserve this value. To open his talk, Sohrab treats us to a haunting, intimate Tanbour improvisation which is rarely heard outside of traditional eastern performances.

Sohrab Pournazeri, virtuoso of the Tanbour and the Kamancheh, is a sensational phenomenon of modern Iranian music. He is a singer and instrumentalist whose music has surpassed the borders of Iran, fusing with cultures and artists as far and wide as China and the United States.

Sohrab was born in 1982 to the musical family of Pournazeris. Music was Sohrab’s mother tongue; he learned it as other children learn tow speak. At the age of two he would play his father’s Tanboor (whose body was larger than his) and sing the poetry of Rumi and Hafez. At 13 he was introduced to the stage as part of the Shamss Ensemble, and today he is considered one of the core members of the band.

Also starting at age 13, Sohrab studied the techniques of Kamanche with Ardeshir Kamkar, and because of his musical talent was able to begin playing as a soloist with the Shams Ensemble after two years.

Sohrab is well versed in the regional music of his native Iran, as well as western classical music, and holds a degree in Music Performance . As soloist and vocalist, Sohrab has collaborated with artists and ensembles worldwide - including M.R Shajarian, Shujaat Hussain Khan, the Beyond Borders Project, and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.

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