HORMOZI, SAʿID, setār and tār virtuoso (b. Tehran, 1907; d. Tehran, 1976; Figure 1). He was a student of Darviš Khan (q.v.), who near the end of his life taught and recorded his repertoire of setār at the Center for the Preservation and Distribution of Traditional Persian Music (Markaz-e ḥefẓ o ešāʿa-ye musiqi-e irāni). Hormozi studied music assiduously despite his family’s disapproval and learned in two years the canonical repertoire (radif) of Persian music from Ḡolām-Ḥosayn Darviš Khan. After Darviš Khan’s death in 1926, he worked with the tār maestro ʿAli-Akbar Šahnāzi for a while. He did not perform in public, worked as a bank employee, and frequented musical circles such as that of Solaymān Amir Qāsemi, who preserved the purity of Persian music. He was a Sufi affiliated to the Ṣafi-ʿAlišāh brotherhood and entered a state of profound meditation when he played the setār, which made his music particularly captivating.
For a music sample, see Bayāt-e Tork 2.
For a music sample, see Hormozi Saʿid.
Bibliography:
Jean During, Zia Mirabdolbaghi, and Dariush Safvat, The Art of Persian Music, Washington, D.C., 1991, p. 261.
Saʿid Hormozi, “Radif and repertoire żarbis,” the Center for the Preservation and Distribution of Traditional Persian Music, Tehran. Ḥabib Naṣirifar, Mardān-e musiqi-e sonnati o novin-e Irān, Tehran, 1990, I, p. 442.
Šāpur Behruzi, Čehrahā-ye musiqi-e Irān, Tehran, 1988, pp. 213-19.
(Jean During)
Originally Published: December 15, 2004
Last Updated: March 23, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XII, Fasc. 5, p. 470
