• A square album cover for 'A Persian Heritage Classical Music of Iran' featuring a textured cream background with a central miniature Persian painting and blue script text, shown on a neutral gray background.

Faramarz Payvar & Ensemble

A Persian Heritage (Classical Music Of Iran)

Regular price $65.00
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SLEEVE
VG+
MEDIA
  • VG+
YEAr
  • 1974?
COUNTRY
USA
extras
  • Repress
IF YOU LIKE
  • Folk
  • Persian Classical
  • Iran
  • Chalghi Baghdadi
  • Musiqi-e Assil
  • Masters of Persian Music
  • Parviz Meshkatian & the Aref Ensemble

Released in 1974 on the Nonesuch Explorer series (and later reissued as Iran: Persian Classical Music), Faramarz Payvar & Ensemble – A Persian Heritage (Classical Music Of Iran) is a vibrant, virtuosic showcase of structured Iranian ensemble performance. Unlike the sparse, meditative duo style of Mahmoud Karimi’s Iran 3 & 4, santur master Faramarz Payvar leads a powerhouse quintet—featuring Houshang Zarif (tar), Rahmatollah Badi'i (kamancheh), Mohammad Esmai'li (zarb), and vocalist Khatereh Parvaneh—through tight, polyrhythmic arrangements and sparkling instrumental interplay. The album balances disciplined metric compositions (pishdaramad and chaharmezrab) with expressive solo flights, highlighted by Payvar’s crystalline hammered-dulcimer runs and Esmai'li’s astonishingly melodic, extended zarb percussion solo. Produced by David Lewiston with pristine acoustic clarity, it serves as an exhilarating, accessible gateway into the brighter, orchestral-chamber side of Persian art music.