Professional Musician

• Master of the santur, a Persian hammered dulcimer.
• Member, Orchestra No. 1 of the State Fine Arts Department, Tehran, Iran
• Performed on Iranian television and radio for the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
• Command Performances for visiting foreign dignitaries and heads of state.
• Concertized widely in the United States, Great Britain, Denmark, The Netherlands,
India, Pakistan, and Israel.
• In United States, regularly gives concerts, participates in festivals and performs on
television and radio.
• Solo and collaborative recordings.

Teacher

• Private lessons, Iran 1953 – 1964, United States 1964 – present.
• Faculty, Conservatory of Persian National Music, Tehran, 1958 – 1964.
• UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology, 1967 – 1997. Taught Persian classical
music theory, history and performance.
• Regularly gives university-level lecture-recitals.

Selected Recordings

• Sounds of the Santur (UCLA IE Series, 1974) recording and notes
• Soundtrack for John Whitney film Arabesque (1975)
• Seals & Crofts recording Takin’ It Easy (Warner Brothers, 1978)
• L. Subramaniam/Stephane Grappelli recording Conversations (Milestone, 1984)
• Strunz & Farah recording Frontera (Guitar Nine Records, 1984)
• Solo recording Visions (2002 release)

Selected Publications

Improvisation in Non-Rhythmic Solo Instrumental Contemporary Persian Art Music (Master’s thesis, UCLA, 1971)

Record reviews, Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology (Vol. XVII, #2, May 1973)

Quoted in Bruno Nettl’s The Radif of Persian Music (Elephant & Cats, 1992)

“Saba,” article in special issue of Daftar-e Honar honoring Abol Hassan Saba (Eatontown, NJ, 1999)

Translation of musical annotations for Dariush Tala’i’s Traditional Persian Art Music:

The Radif of Mirza Abdollah (Mazda Publishers, 2000)

Interview and soundtrack for The Struggle for Iran radio documentary, hosted by Walter Cronkite (KQED/Stanley Foundation, 2001)

“Shajarian,” article in special issue of Daftar-e Honar honoring Iranian master vocalist Shajarian (Eatontown, NJ, 2003)

Articles about Manoochehr Sadeghi

Many articles in Persian magazines such as Iran Post, Tehran, Javanan, and Iran News (1958 –1964)

“Persian Music Class in America,” Roshanfekr “Enlightened” Magazine, one of the leading publications in Iran (Siamak Pourzand, ed., No. 899, Feb. 1970)

Concert Review, Santa Barbara News (1983)

“Manoochehr Sadeghi,” Performing Arts, California Theatre and Music Magazine (UCLA Center for the Arts, Oct. 1984)

Concert Review, The Indianapolis Star/The Indianapolis News (1998)

“Flute Links Arabic, Persia, Hindu Traditions,” Los Angeles Times article on World Festival of Sacred Music (1999)

“Manoochehr Sadeghi,” The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Persian Music, Vol. III (New Horizon Publications, Los Angeles, 2002)

Awards and Honors

1973 – Fulbright-Hays Fellowship for research on doctoral dissertation

1993 – Annual “Oneness of Humanity” Arts and Entertainment Award from international magazine El Ruisenor.

2000 – Durfee Foundation Master Musician Fellowship

2003 – National Endowment For The Arts – Recipient of the Nation’s Highest Honor in the Folk and Traditional Arts – The National Heritage Fellowship

Major Performances

Command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, Vice President Nixon, King Hussain of Jordan, King Fasil of Iraq, Ronald Reagan, 1953 – 1964.

“India – Persia,” Manoochehr Sadeghi (santur), Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), Labera Theatre, Santa Barbara, 1983.

“Classical Music of the East – India, Persia, Arabia,” Manoochehr Sadeghi (santur) with four-piece ensemble, presented by the Jazz and World Music Society, Trinity Episcopal Church, Santa Barbara, CA, 1983.

“Music of Iran,” Manoochehr Sadeghi, Music Director, Hayedeh, vocalist, UCLA, Society for Ethnomusicology, 1984.

“East West Fusion,” Manoochehr Sadeghi (santur), L. Subramaniam (violin) and ensemble, UCLA Royce Hall, 1986.

“Music and Dance on the Grass,” annual international folk festival, UCLA, 1967 – 1997. Honoring the 600th anniversary of the birth of Hafez, the great Persian poet, solo santur by Manoochehr Sadeghi, Roudaki Cultural Foundation, North Vancouver, B.C., 1988.

Baha’i World Congress, Manoochehr Sadeghi (santur) soloist with symphony orchestra and choir, Jacob Javits Center, New York, 1992.

“An Evening of Persian Music” with special guest santur virtuoso Manoochehr Sadeghi, Lotte Lehmann Hall, UC Santa Barbara, 1993.

“Sacred Landmarks,” concert for the L. A. Festival, All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA, 1993.

“A Persian Festival,” Persian music ensemble directed by Manoochehr Sadeghi, UCLA Fowler Museum, 1995.

The Baha’i Choir for World Peace, Manoochehr Sadeghi (santur), sponsored by the University of Maryland, L.A. Baha’i Center, 1996.

“Traditional Persian Music,” Earth Music Center of Indiana, IUPUI Lecture Hall Auditorium, Indianapolis, IN, 1998.

“Mystic Voices: Music of Devotion in Islam and Hinduism,” concert for the World Festival of Sacred Music, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, 1999.

2003  National Heritage Fellowship – National Endowment for the Arts

2002 Durfee Foundation: Recipient of the Master Musician Award

Vision “Contemporary Persian Music”
Album released June 2003 (Page 8)

Improvisation in Nonrhythmic Solo Instrumental Contemporary Persian Art Music.
(Album released May 1974 UCLA.)

World Festival of Sacred Music (http://www.wfsm.org/americas/calendar/event12e.html) – MYSTIC VOICES: MUSIC OF DEVOTION IN ISLAM AND HINDUISM, (one of 80 live performances for Peace & Unity)

Traditional Persian Art Music
(http://www.mazdapublisher.com/BookDetails.aspx?BookID=36) – The Radif of Mirza Abdollah – Musical Notation, Commentary, and Performance by Dariush Tala’i–Translation of Musical Annotations from the Persian by Manoochehr Sadeghi

The Iran Project
(http://www.iranproject.org/radio/transcript6.html) – Listen to a Real Audio clip of Manoochehr Sadeghi’s description of today’s Persian music in an interview with Walter Cronkide and Debra Baer.

Takin It Easy (1978)
(http://www.sealsandcrofts.com/lyricstie.html) – Seals & Crofts – Intro in Persian by Manoochehr Sadeghi, Santur

L. SUBRAMANIAM
(http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/subramaniam_cat.html) – (Electric Indian Violin) Album: Conversations – Song: Illusions, Manoochehr Sadeghi, Santure first Orchestra of the State Fine Arts Department of Iran, where he continued as a soloist for many years. As a member of this orchestra and other ensembles sponsored by the Iranian Government he has performed on Tehran radio and television, concertized widely and given command performances for visits of various foreign dignitaries and heads of state from India, Pakistan, Turkey, Denmark, Great Britain, The Netherlands and America. At the same time he was engaged in teaching at the Conservatory of Persian National Music in Tehran. When he left his home country for the United States in 1964, Iranian television produced a farewell special dedicated to him.

Santur.com features a complete historical background & technical science of Persian Music, with detailed educational information about the Santur and all the Persian classical instruments. A complete description and samples of the Radif are available with free music downloads.

Our website will in the future have an online school for music students from around the world who desire to learn how to play an instrument, be able to educate themselves online.

Please tell your friends or anyone you know who is studying, performing or producing music about this educational website. Santur.com is new and expanding with free music from around the world, not just Persian music, but music from every culture.