Mirzá Abdollah received his first musical instruction from his older brother Mirzá Hasan. He, in turn, taught tar to his younger brother, Mirzá Hossein Gholi, until he became old enough to study with Gholam Hossein. Despite Gholam Hossein’s unwillingness to teach, the two younger brothers were eager to learn to the point that they would secretly sit outside the door when their cousin was playing in order to learn the melodies. Their mother finally persuaded Gholam Hossein to teach them. They subsequently were to become the successors of Ali Akbar Farahani and Gholam Hossein.
Mirzá Abdollah learned music only with great effort and difficulty because of the secretive manner of the musicians of his time, and their jealousy of their skills. As a result, he resolved that whatever music he heard he would learn well, that he would memorize the dastgahs completely and without error, and that whatever he learned he would teach freely to his own students so that Persian music would be passed on to future generations. [1]
He eventually became a musician at the court of Nasiru’d-Din Shah and remained such until his death in 1918.
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