MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER
Born in 1976 in Tehran and raised in Khorasan, in southern Iran, at the age of 16 he began to practice tombak, the most prominent percussion instrument in Persian classical music, self-taught. Later, attracted by the sound of the ney, the humble reed flute, he attempted to produce sound on it on his own. With his savings, he bought as many records as he could. This is how he learned Persian music. He could already read and play some scores, so he decided to thoroughly prepare himself to attend the University of Art. He passed the entrance exam and that’s where his life as a musician began. At the Tehran Music Faculty, he studied Persian classical music, while also attending private lessons with great masters where he learned harmony, composition, and the transverse flute. In 1998, his studies were rewarded when he won the award for best flutist in the national competition of university students’ music. His first work, “Fugue in Homayun” for string quartet, was presented a few years later at the prestigious Fadjr festival, the most important in the country, where he won the award for best composer. In parallel with his composition studies, he began working as a teacher at the Higher Conservatory and at the University of Art in Tehran. During his master’s degree, he met Hamzeh Yeganeh, a classmate, a great pianist and jazz composer. As a result of this friendship and cultural exchange, three albums were recorded and released, and several concerts were organized.
After completing his master’s degree, he joined the National Symphony Orchestra of Iran as a flutist for four years. He later released two albums: “Quartets for Ney” and “Moonlight Sky,” as well as his first book, “Comprehensive Ney Method.” During these years, he experimented with other styles and instruments to enrich his musical knowledge and develop his own language as a composer and performer. The result of all this is the group Rastak, with which he performs new arrangements of traditional music. The year 2011 marked an unexpected change in his personal and artistic trajectory, although he quickly adapted to his new home, which offered him a wide panorama of art and culture to discover and experience: Spain. After studying German to further his studies in Vienna, destiny brought him to Madrid. His initial attempts were to find a position as a flutist in a symphony orchestra, but fate had other plans for him. His musical culture from his homeland guided him in his new steps, teaching Persian music classes and initially forming two groups of Persian music, poetry, and dance: Yaran Ensemble and Nasim Saba, to which Parvaaz has currently been added. From 2011 to 2018 in Spain, he released three albums: “Ofogh,” “Ney y Guitarra Española,” “Sonido del Oriente,” and “Kereshmeh,” offering a new perspective on Persian music. In 2021, along with choreographer Patricia Álvarez, he created the show “Kereshmeh,” an experimental project based on the album of the same title, presented at the Arrels festival, the religious music festival of Valencia, and at the Framed Foundation in Berlin. During his time in Spain, he traveled to other European countries to collaborate on musical projects, including performing at the Austrian World Music Award 2016 with the jazz fusion group of Mahan Mirarab. In 2019, with the Arab fusion music group Darawish, he released the album “Madar.” As a guest musician, he participated in recordings and concerts with the group Sinouj.
He has never stopped teaching music, even far from his home country. The result of more than twelve years of teaching music in Spain, both in person and online, are two teaching books: “Ornaments of Persian Music in Ney” and “Tombak Method.”
In 2021, he participated in Ana Alcaide’s “Ritual” project, a performance inspired by Persian music and poetry. Since 2018, he has been a member of the CdM cultural foundation in Valencia. He has participated in various musical projects directed by Carles Magraner, among others, such as “The Silk Road,” “The Collar of the Dove,” which was awarded Best Early Music Album in 2023, and “The Son of the Moment.”
Parsinava, the group led by Kaveh, represents a dialogue between jazz and Persian music in a broad space that showcases a lesser-known sound. Spain also offered an opportunity to discover Arab music and culture. Working with musicians and singers from different Arab countries opened up a new panorama of rhythms and melodies for him. As a result of his artistic collaboration and friendship with Syrian oud player Hames Bitar, the album “When The Sun Rises” was released in 2023.
Currently, his efforts are focused on a teaching project with Australian flutist Marie Heinrich, with whom he collaborates on a series of Persian music books for flute and on the composition of Parsinava’s new album.
