Iranian composer, violin virtuoso Homayun Khorram dies at 82

TEHRAN,Jan.19(MNA) -- Iranian violin virtuoso Homayun Khorram and the composer of the memorable songs “The Debased of the Time” and “Oh Angel, Where Art Thou?” died of intestine cancer at Tehran’s Dey Hospital at the age of 82. He was born in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr. Due to his great interest in the Homayun Dastgah, one of the 12 Iranian sets of notes, his mother named him Homayun. He began learning music when he was ten years old. When he was 11, he was studied under the great Iranian composer and virtuoso of setar and tombak, Abolhassan Saba, who was one of the few students of Darvish Khan, a setar virtuoso and prominent composer of the 19th century. At the age of 14, he made several solo performances on Iranian state radio. His works were performed by many prominent Iranian singers on Golha, a radio program which began airing early 1950s and lasted until late 1970s. Khorram studied electricity in the university. However, he pursued his career in music as the conductor of the National Instruments Orchestra. Among his hits are “Oh Angel, Where Art Thou?”, which was first performed by singer Hossein Qavami (1909-1989) and then by Mohammad Esfahani in 2000. He composed “The Debased of the Time” for singer Bahar Gholamhosseini (Elaheh) and vocalist Alireza Qorbani reprised it in his latest album, which was released last autumn. Khorram’s memoires “The Babel of Stars” was published in 2010 based on a long interview conducted by Ali Vakili, one of his students. The Persian literary monthly Bokhara commemorated Khorram, in a ceremony entitled “An Evening with Homayun Khorram” in May 2007. Khorram appeared on the stage with a number of his students for the last time in Tehran on July 4, 2012, performing a repertoire of the works he had composed for Golha. “I have a strong attachment to the young generation. I want to do something to remain in their memories too,” Khorram said in a press conference before the concert.