Ruhollah Khaleqi

Ruhollah Khaleqi was born in Mahan in Kerman province and studied music under the visionary reformer Ali-Naqi Vaziri at the Higher Music Conservatory in Tehran. A master violinist and music theorist, he founded the National Music Society of Iran in 1949 and established the prestigious School of National Music.

In 1944, during the Allied occupation of Iran, Khaleqi collaborated with the poet Hossein Gol-e-Golab to compose Ey Iran (O Iran), a sweeping, non-monarchical patriotic anthem in the Dastgah-e Dashti that became the eternal national song of the Iranian people. He also authored the definitive three-volume monumental history Sargozasht-e Musiqi-ye Iran (The Story of Iranian Music).