Ostad Elahi, a Tanbur Master, Is Celebrated at Met Museum

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Vivien Schweitzer
Ostad Elahi (1895-1974), an Iranian judge and a tanbur master. Credit Nour Foundation
NEW YORK---Most mystics begin their lives in the wider community and then retreat into seclusion, but the musician and philosopher Ostad Elahi (1895-1974) followed the opposite path. It has been considered sacred since the 14th century, when it was adopted by the Kurdish Ahl-e Haqq order, also known as the Fervents of Truth. On recordings, Elahi’s music can sound startlingly modern and dissonant, and strikingly beautiful, interwoven with complex rhythmic patterns and so richly polyphonic that it sounds as if multiple instruments had to be playing. His achievements are now being explored in a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition called “The Sacred Lute: The Art of Ostad Elahi.” [link]

Metropolitan Museum of Art: “The Sacred Lute” (Ends Jan. 11, 2015). There will be a lecture and concert next Saturday, a concert of Persian music on Oct. 10, a tanbur workshop on Nov. 15 and three short concerts on Nov. 16 at the Met; metmuseum.org.