Khofri was born on 7 August 1923 in
Baghdad,
Mandatory Iraq. His father, Jibrael Khofri, and his mother Victoria, were of Assyrian descent and originally from Iran. They fled Iran during the
Assyrian Genocide of
World War I, migrating to Iraq, where they lived for many years. In 1928, the Khofri family returned to Iran and settled in
Kermanshah in Western Iran. Khofri grew up in Kermanshah and graduated from high school there. Khofri's father was an
accordion player who inspired his son to learn the instrument. Khofri soon began to develop popular Assyrian music into a classical style; eventually, this led to the establishment of the
Assyrian Music Ensemble, which performed many concerts for the Assyrian community in Kermanshah. Khofri continued his musical studies in composition through correspondence courses from the
United States and finally obtained a diploma in music composition and harmony from the
United States School of Music, a correspondence school located in
Port Washington,
New York. Khofri conducted the
Saint Joseph Catholic Church Choir in Tehran for many years and also taught piano and music on the side while working for the
Iranian Oil Company until his retirement. Khofri is credited with composing numerous Assyrian folk songs in both
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and
Persian. An accomplished painter, along with these musical compositions, he often included
landscapes of villages in
Urmia done in black ink or water color. In 1985, the
Assyrian Foundation of America, in
Berkeley, California, gave him an award in recognition of his work in Assyrian
folk music. He died in May 2000 in
Tehran,
Iran. ==Vocal music==