Morteza Mahjubi


Morteza Mahjubi was an Iranian pianist and composer. He was a piano soloist for the Golha radio programme.

Early life

Morteza Mahjubi was born in 1900, in Tehran, Iran. His father, Abbas Ali, known as Nazer, played the Ney. His mother, Fakhr-o-SSaadaat, 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.
At the age of ten, Morteza performed a concert accompanying Aref Qazvini in cinema Farus. In the following years, he went on to perform with other musicians including Darvish Khan, Seyyed Hossein Taherzadeh, and Hossein Esmail Zadeh.

Teachers

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. He also studied with other musicians, including Darvish Khan, Hossein Esmail Zadeh, Hajikhan Zarbgir, and Seyyed Hossein Taherzadeh.

Performance Style

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.

Compositions

Mahjubi has composed many tasnifs, pīshdarāmads, and rengs. A noteworthy example is his composition "Man az Rooze Azal Divane Boodam". This tasnif has been performed by Gholam-Hossein Banan. While Mahjubi was unfamiliar with western notation, he devised a notation system similar to Siaaq, which he used to transcribe musical ideas.

Students

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