Ali Akbar Moradi

Ali Akbar Moradi is a well known Kurdish musician and composer. He was born in Gahvareh in the Kermanshah province of Iran. He started music at a very early age, and learned the Kurdish maqam repertoire and tanbur under the supervision of Kurdish masters such as Mirza Sayyed Ali Kafashyan, Kaki Allah Morad Hamidi and Sayyed Vali Hosseyni. He gave his first recital in 1971 in Kermanshah. In 1981, he began collaborating with the Kurdish singer Shahram Nazeri, and performed throughout Europe and North America. He is an expert on the tanbur instrument, which is considered sacred in Kurdish Yarsani and sufi music.