Jalal Zolfonun

Jalal Zolfonun
Born (1937-03-06)March 6, 1937
Abadeh, Iran
Died March 18, 2012(2012-03-18) (aged 74)[1]
Karaj, Iran
Genres Persian music
Occupation(s) Composer, setar player
Instruments Setar
Years active 1967–2012

Jalal Zolfonun (sometimes spelled or pronounced Jalal Zoufonoun, Persian: جلال ذوالفنون‎‎; 1937 – March 18, 2012),[1] was a master of the setar, as well a composer and teacher of Persian music.[2]

Biography

Jalal Zolfonun was born in Abadeh, Fars, Iran, and received his earliest musical training from his father, Habib Zoufonoun,[3] and his older brother, Mahmoud Zoufonoun on the tar.

At the age of 13, Zolfonun enrolled the National School for Iranian Music to study musical theory, composition and technique under Ruhollah Khaleghi and Musa Khan Maroufi. While he immediately fell in love with setar, the instrument was not taken seriously in those times. He instead decided to study the tar, while also learning the violin from his brother Mahmoud Zoufonoun.

In 1967, Zolfonun was accepted into the faculty of the fine arts department of Tehran University, where he further studied the setar with Master Noor Ali Boroumand and Dariush Safvat.

From then on, he dedicated himself to the delicate instrument. He began combining the techniques of the older masters of setar (an Iranian instrument with four metal strings) with his own ingenuity and mystic sensitivity. For the first time, with Iran's leading classical singer Shahram Nazeri, he founded an ensemble composed of only setar players. Later, in the 1980s, Zolfonoun and Nazeri's compositions were released in two best-seller albums, one of which, Gol-e Sadbarg ("One hundred-petalled Rose"), is the best selling album of classical Iranian music ever.

At the same time, Zolfonun also composed for the setar in mind and would prove one of the most expressive, while technically virtuosic players of the instrument. Perhaps most notable of his contributions to this music is that he showed for the first time the power and versatility of the setar as an ensemble and solo instrument that could fully express the nuances of Persian traditional music in any setting. In fact, since Gol-e Sadbarg's success, the setar evolved from the least to the most popular instrument in Iran.

Following the success of Gol-e Sadbarg, Zolfonun continued to record a number of other albums on which he is featured as lead soloist, composer and/or ensemble player with a number of well-known singers and musicians with whom he also toured worldwide.

Zolfonun also wrote a seminal book, Setar Playing / Teaching Method.

He lived in Iran, but also toured outside in Europe, the US, Canada and Japan with his son, Soheil Zolfonoon, and other musicians.

Zolfonun died of heart disease on 18 March 2012 in Tehran; he had been hospitalized for two weeks prior to his death for heart failure.[1]

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Prominent Iranian Setar player and composer dies". Press TV. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
  2. ↑ Allmusic
  3. ↑ Habib Zoufonoun
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