My influences

Actually the Eastern music that influenced me was mostly not on record but from my teachers. My main influence for Persian music was my teacher and spiritual master Dr. Daryush Safvat.

Daryush Safvat (setar) & Razavi (vocal) at University of Utah

But a few albums that I listened to intensely in the 1960s were:

1. The UNESCO Collection, A Musical Anthology of the Orient, Iran I and Iran II featuring masters Ashgar Bahari on kamanche, Borumand on tar and young vocalist Golpaigani.

Ostad Ali Asghar Bahari performing in 1972

2. The UNESCO albums of Southeast Asian music where I became enthused by the Lao khen (free-reed pipes) music that was like blues.

3. Also several albums of Vietnamese music were in my collection and I loved the beyond bluesy twangyness before I even met my Vietnamese music teacher Tran Van Khe.

4. LPs on BAM (Boite a Musique) with Eastern music on them and French recordings of music from Afghanistan

5. Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan's recording of Sindhi Bhairavi for Indian music, later I studied sarod with his son Ashish Khan and then performed on santur with him at a major concert here at the University of Utah.

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