Ali Akbar Shahnazi was born in
Tehran,
Qajar Iran, on 12 May 1897. His father,
Mirza Hossein-Qoli, another master of the tar, named him Ali-Akbar according to a very old tradition: the grandson should be named as his grandfather. His younger brother
Abdolhossein Shahnazi was also a master of the
tar. He recorded many pieces with noted vocalists of his time such as
Abolhassan Eghbal-Azar and Hossein-Ali Nakisa. He collaborated with other masters of his time such as
Reza Mahjubi (violinist) and
Hossein Tehrāni (the father of modern
tonbak). He not only taught his students his father's
radif collection, but also composed a beautiful radif, which he named
radif-e dowre-ye āli () and taught it to his students too. Shahnazi comes from a music family called in Persian
Khanedan-e Honar (), literally meaning "art dynasty". Shahnazi died on 17 March 1985 at the age of 87. (left) ==References==