MOHAMMAD REZA MORTAZAVI

Cascading rhythms, a psalmody of beats and tantric textures; Mohammad Reza Mortazavi's

musical architecture and phrasing may be the work of a simple pair of hands, but witnessed

live they take on the proportions of an orchestral sound. Born in Iran and based in Berlin for

about two decades, this percussion virtuoso was trained from the age of 6 in the noble

Persian art of traditional hand drums - the tombak and daf. Along the journey, he

revolutionized the traditional way of playing the tombak, which did not always please the

old masters but earned him the attention and loyalty of the public in Tehran, who regularly

attended his concerts. He has played around the world in multiple contexts, from

auditoriums to philharmonics to open-air trance music festivals, and collaborated with other

musicians and creatives, like stage directors and dance choreographers. Among his

discography we find the EP “Focus” on the Portuguese label Padre Himalaya, and a

forthcoming album soon to be released on the Berlin-based Tresor.

https://youtu.be/bwgpSCg0gZc

This concert is supported by the Goethe Institut Portugal.

free entry

photo: ©Issei Suzuki