Hafez Nazeri

Who is Hafez Nazeri?

Hafez Nazeri is an Iranian composer of Kurdish descent. He is the son of musician Shahram Nazeri.

Hafez began voice lessons at the age of three, and went on to place first in many voice competitions. At seven, he began focusing his studies on Tanbour and Setar which he had been playing since he was three. He then became intrigued by the Daf, a percussion instrument he taught himself to play. In the process, he created a unique technique that is now emulated by many of Iran’s young Daf players.

By the age of nine, Hafez had already begun to perform alongside his father in many music festivals in Europe and the Middle East. Hafez is considered to have extended the technique of Setar-playing and has received praise from musicians and craftsmen alike. At the age of sixteen he performed, among others, at the Sfinks Festival in Belgium, the Festa del Popolo in Italy, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and the Beiteddine Festival in Lebanon and many, many more.

In 2000, Hafez assembled a talented group of young performers to form the Rumi Ensemble. Together they performed Hafez’s original compositions in a series of landmark concerts in twenty Iranian cities. These musical innovations not only reached younger audiences, they also had an impact on the musical scene in Iran and beyond. With 140,000 in attendance, The Rumi Ensemble’s concerts in Tehran, set a record for the entire Middle East,