Vafadar, ‏Majid

Vafadar, Majid (1912-1976)

Violinist and composer. He studied with Husayn Khan Isma‘ilzada, Riza Mahjubi, and Abu’l-Hasan Saba and also worked with European instructors for a while. He made his debut performance at the orchestra conducted by Parviz Iranpur in 1930 and later on formed an artistic triangle with his brother, Hamid Vafadar (d. 1990), the powerful performer of the tar, and vocalist Husayn Qavami. Starting in 1945, he performed on the radio for a period of thirty years. Although Majid Vafadar was a very powerful violinist with a particular performance style and had been recognized as a prodigy and genius of his day with a Schubert-like spirit, he was not invited to perform on the Golha programnes and only two of his compositions, Ay shab-i juda’i (O Night of Separation!) Golha-Rang-a rang 236, 236b Yek Shakh Gol 283  and Dil birubudi (My Heart You’ve Bereft) Golha-Rang-a rang 235 were rearranged by Javad Ma‘rufi and played without any contribution by him to their performance. Husayn Qavami was featured as a vocalist on these programmes.  Since 1990 a number of his other compositions have been performed featuring other vocalists. His works include a gramophone record entitled Taknavazi dar Bayat-i Isfahan (Tehran: Shahrzad 1332/1953) and the composition for a lyrical ballad that he wrote entitled Mara bibus (“Kiss me!” with lyrics by Haydar Rajabi, violin by Parviz Yahaqqi, and vocals by Hasan Gulnaraqi; Tehran: Roya 1956).