‘Ata’ullah Khurram

Khurram, ‘Ata’ullah (1928-), violin instrumentalist and composer. He studied with Abu’l-Hasan Saba and other masters of classical Persian music. Despite these studies of classical Persian music, owing to his personal taste and the requirements of the modernist Iranian society from 1950 onwards, he opted to become a performer and composer of pop music instead and in this domain soon revealed his mastery. He made a name for himself in writing compositions for Vigen, the most renowned pop vocalist of the period 1955-76 – who had taken “Sultan” as his stage-name in emulation of “the King [of Rock and Roll]” Elvis Presley (1935-1977) in the United States. The team of ‘Ata’ullah Khurram, Vigen, and Parviz Vakili (lyricist and song-writer: 1935-1982) formed a kind of trinity; together they produced the best-selling records of Persian pop music of their era. All the hues and tones of Persian melodies are vividly reflected in the works of ‘Ata’ullah Khurram, although at times he made use of Armenian and Azeri melodies as well. He also wrote compositions using traditional Persian ‘modes’ (mayih) which were performed by leading vocalists such as Humayra. His two books, one including well-known melodies (set for the piano, Tehran: Parthian Publications 1985) and his autobiography, entitled Gulistan-i Musiqi-yi Iran (The Rose Garden of Persian Music, published in the United States) have become best-sellers. 

Khurram’s wrote special compositions reinterpreting traditional Persian folkloric melodies for several of the Gulha programmes, including the Gulha-yi Sahra’i and Yik Shakhih Gul programmes in which vocalists like Ramish (b.1941-) sang. Since 1981 ‘Ata’ullah Khurram has been residing in the United States, where he is still quite active in the domain of music. He should be accounted as one of the earliest and most important Persian pop musicians of the twentieth century.