The Most Famous

MUSICIANS from Iran

This page contains a list of the greatest Iranian Musicians. The pantheon dataset contains 3,175 Musicians, 3 of which were born in Iran. This makes Iran the birth place of the 60th most number of Musicians behind Moldova, and New Zealand.

Top 6

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Iranian Musicians of all time. This list of famous Iranian Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Safi al-Din al-Urmawi (1216 - 1294)

With an HPI of 56.89, Safi al-Din al-Urmawi is the most famous Iranian Musician. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Safi al-Din al-Urmawi al-Baghdadi (Persian: صفی الدین اورموی) or Safi al-Din Abd al-Mu'min ibn Yusuf ibn al-Fakhir al-Urmawi al-Baghdadi (born c. 1216 AD in Urmia, died in 1294 AD in Baghdad) was a musician and writer on the theory of music.

2. Viguen (1929 - 2003)

With an HPI of 49.65, Viguen is the 2nd most famous Iranian Musician. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Viguen (born Viguen Derderian, Persian: ویگن دردریان, Vigen Derderyân; Armenian: Վիգէն Տէրտէրեան, Vigēn Tērtērian; 23 November 1929 – 26 October 2003) was an Iranian pop music singer and actor. He was well known throughout the Near East and was called the "King of Iranian pop" and the "Sultan of Jazz." He was an Iranian Armenian by ethnicity and sang in both Persian and Armenian. During the golden age of Persian pop (the early 1970s) until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, many Iranian performers and celebrities—among them Delkash, Pouran, and Elaheh—yearned to be associated with him. He moved to the United States in 1971 and lived the rest of his life there. Viguen's innovative and upbeat style of music had a great influence on paving the way for a new genre of Iranian music, influenced by Western European and Latin American styles. His musical and performing talents soon captured the attention of many prominent Iranian lyricists and composers such as Parveez Vakili(fa) and Kareem Fakkour(fa), and together they created some of Iran's most memorable songs.

3. Hossein Alizadeh (b. 1951)

With an HPI of 45.87, Hossein Alizadeh is the 3rd most famous Iranian Musician. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Hossein Alizadeh (August 22, 1950) (Persian: حسین علیزاده) is an Iranian musician, composer, radif-preserver, researcher, teacher, and tar, shurangiz and setar instrumentalist and improviser. He has performed with such musicians as Shahram Nazeri, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Alireza Eftekhari and Jivan Gasparyan, as well as with a number of orchestras and ensembles.

4. Kayhan Kalhor (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 41.86, Kayhan Kalhor is the 4th most famous Iranian Musician. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Kayhan Kalhor (Persian: کیهان کلهر, born on 24 November 1964) is an Iranian kamancheh and setar player, and a vocal composer. He has received three Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album nominations. Kalhor also has earned two nominations and won one Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble.

5. Shahin Najafi (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 36.59, Shahin Najafi is the 5th most famous Iranian Musician. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Morteza Najafi pour Moghadam (Persian: مرتضی نجفی‌پور مقدم; born 1980), better known as Shahin Najafi (Persian: شاهین نجفی), is an Iranian musician, singer, composer, poet, author, and political activist. Najafi's songs mostly deal with issues such as theocracy, poverty, sexism, censorship, child labor, execution, drug addiction and homophobia. In interviews, he has stated that he strives to use poetic, literary, philosophical, and political elements in his music.

6. Salim Ghazi Saeedi (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 31.79, Salim Ghazi Saeedi is the 6th most famous Iranian Musician. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Salim Ghazi Saeedi () (Persian: سلیم قاضی‌سعیدی, also Romanized as Salim Ghāzi Saeedi and Salim Ghāzi-Saeedi; born 1981) is an Iranian composer and guitarist who plays a variety of genres ranging from progressive metal, jazz fusion, avant-garde classical chamber, progressive surf, progressive rock, RIO (Rock in Opposition), to art rock with a minimalist approach.

People

Pantheon has 6 people classified as Iranian musicians born between 1216 and 1981. Of these 6, 4 (66.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Iranian musicians include Hossein Alizadeh, Kayhan Kalhor, and Shahin Najafi. The most famous deceased Iranian musicians include Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, and Viguen. As of April 2024, 3 new Iranian musicians have been added to Pantheon including Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, Viguen, and Hossein Alizadeh.

Living Iranian Musicians

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Hossein Alizadeh
1951 - Present
HPI: 45.87
Kayhan Kalhor
1963 - Present
HPI: 41.86
Shahin Najafi
1980 - Present
HPI: 36.59
Salim Ghazi Saeedi
1981 - Present
HPI: 31.79

Deceased Iranian Musicians

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Safi al-Din al-Urmawi
1216 - 1294
HPI: 56.89
Viguen
1929 - 2003
HPI: 49.65

Newly Added Iranian Musicians (2024)

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Safi al-Din al-Urmawi
1216 - 1294
HPI: 56.89
Viguen
1929 - 2003
HPI: 49.65
Hossein Alizadeh
1951 - Present
HPI: 45.87