Early years

Viguen, Iran's "Sultan" of pop and jazz music.^[1][2][3]

Jazz music emerged in Iran along with the development of western influences into the pop music. One of the pioneers of jazz music in Iran was Alfred Lazaryan, a little-known singer and dancer whose first recorded song made a hit on the Iranian national radio.^[4] However, Lazaryan soon gave up singing.^[4] Viguen Derderian, a celebrated pop and jazz artist popularly known simply as "Viguen", began his career in the early 1950s.^[3] Viguen's first song, Moonlight, which was released in 1954,^[1] was also an instant hit on the radio,^[3] and is considered to have marked a turning point in Iran's western-influenced music.^[1] Viguen created some of Iran's most memorable songs, including collaborations with Delkash,^[3] and was known as Iran's "Sultan of Jazz".^[1][2][3][5]

After the 1979 Revolution

A music group named Ejazz performed the first officially sanctioned jazz music concert in post-revolutionary Iran.^[6] They produced jazz fusion, incorporating elements from the indigenous classical music.^[6]

Rana Farhan, an Iranian jazz and blues singer living in New York,^[7] combines classical Persian poetry with modern jazz and blues.^[8] She has established a model to the jazz fusion project that she continues to incorporate in her work. Her best-known work, Drunk With Love, is based on a poem by prominent 13th-century Persian poet Rumi.^[7]

Bomrani, one of the first country blues bands in post-revolutionary Iran, was founded in 2008, as part of a new wave of influences onto the music stages of Tehran.^[9] Pallett, a similarly successful band that was formed in 2009,^[10] composes jazz fusion of clarinet, cello, and double bass.^[9] They have garnered a huge following in Iran, and have also performed abroad.^[11]