Category: Majid Nejahi

Majid Najahi (born 1934 in Tehran – died August 11, 2016) was an Iranian musician and santur player.
Life
Majid Najahi was born in February 1934 in Tehran, in one of the alleys around Baharestan Square. After completing his primary education at Parvaneh School (where he was a classmate of Parviz Yahaghi), he enrolled in Elmieh High School to continue his education and complete his secondary education. After finishing high school, he went to the Officer Training College for conscription and completed his military service with the rank of second lieutenant. He was then employed at Bank Tehran and later transferred to the Tehran Electricity Department. After serving various stages of service, he became the head of the Public Services Department of Shemiran Electricity and finally retired in 1981.
Najahi passed away on Thursday, August 11, 2016, at the age of 82 in Tehran.
Music
Familiarity with Santur in Childhood
Majid Najahi says: “For years, our house was in Baharestan, but after a few years, we moved to Darvazeh Shemiran. By coincidence, one of the very good santur players who was one of the soloists of the radio at that time lived in the neighborhood of our new house, and that person was Mr. Mohsen Bi Azar, and I was the same age as his brother and I got to know him and we went to each other’s houses, and it was these comings and goings that I became initially familiar with the shape and appearance of the santur and how to play it. Two years passed and, considering my intense interest in music, I did not dare to tell my father to buy a santur. Inevitably, I told the carpenter at the end of the alley, who was an artistic and tasteful man, to make a santur for me, and he made a small santur for me in exchange for a small amount of money, and I tied the strings on the santur with the pieces of wire that Mr. Mohsen Bi Azar gave me, and I started playing it myself for a year by listening to the radio. At this time, my father, who saw my boundless love and interest in music, bought me a large and ordinary santur for 17 Tomans, and from this date I officially became familiar with playing this instrument.”
Professional Training
After playing the santur for five years, Najahi became acquainted with Hossein Qawami, and this acquaintance opened a window for him, and after a while, he became acquainted with Ahmad Ebadi, Morteza Khan Mahjoubi, Noor Ali Khan Boroumand, and other masters and benefited from their existence. He was strongly influenced by Mahjoubi’s playing and tried to use his style and manner of playing and become familiar with the radifs, melodies, and modes of Iranian music.
Activity in Radio
In 1958, Majid Najahi went to participate in the Golha program at the invitation of Davood Pirnia. Pirnia’s invitation was such that one day Najahi was a guest at Abdolali Vaziri’s house and was playing the santur in his house when Pirnia immediately invited him to perform the program. After an examination by several masters, he participated in Golhay Javidan No. 20 with Abdolali Vaziri, and this program was in the “Homayoun” mode. After this program, he continuously participated in Pirnia’s various Golha programs with singers such as Hossein Qawami, Akbar Golpayegani, Mohammadreza Shajarian, Mahmoud Khansari, Iraj, Abdolvahab Shahidi, and many of the Golha singers. Najahi has also been active in other radio programs, including: santur solo and soloists program, and for several years he performed the authentic Iranian music program from the second radio program (FM) together with engineer Homayoun Khorram.
Foreign Trips
In order to introduce authentic and traditional Iranian music, especially the santur, which is a national instrument, he traveled extensively to countries such as Germany, America, England, Italy, Turkey, Afghanistan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

The works collected from this artist are on the private site as follows: