Reza Varzande (1926-1976)
Gholam-Reza Morshed Varzande was born in Kashan. His family was already familiar with music and some of its members were professional santur and tombak players. From 1931 till 1940 he studied tombak and santur with his father, and played at artistic circles of his native city. He heard Habib Soma'i (santur) and Morteza Mahjoubi (piano) for the first time in radio and went under their influence. After acquaintance with Hoseyn Qavami, singer and military office, he was encouraged to migrate to Tehran and study with Habib Soma'i.
HabibSoma'I the last great santur player died in Tehran. Young Varzande held different occupations in Kashan and then migrated to Tehran. Qavami and Manuchehr Homayunpour introduced him to artistic circles of Tehran. Soon afterwards he was a sought-after artist working as well as recording with some of the great masters of his time, like Ahmad Mehran, Abdolhamid Golshan Ebrahimi, Morteza Abdolrasuli, Davallu brothers, Arbab Mehdi Yazdi and many others. Varzande became an attending artist in famous radio music programs Golha and played solo santur every two weeks in radio. He also played in other music programs such as Golha-ye Rangarang, Golha-ye Javidan, Yek Shakhe Gol, Barg-e Sabz, and Golha-ye Sahrayi. Morteza Mahjoubi, Lotfollah Majd, and Hasan Kasayi were other soloists of these radio programs. He also taught santur to his daughter Robab. He was praised for his style of playing by Ruhollah Khaleqi in Radio Tehran Magazine. Varzande was befriended with Daryush Rafi'i and as an active musician played solo recitals in Cultural Societies relating to USA and Poland embassies, and received warm applause. From 1967 until a year before his death he played in Shiraz Art Festival, and was also praised by other santur players.
Poor health and illness prevented him from continuing playing in radio and music circles. His last radio appearance was featured with the famous singer Elahe. While tuning his santur in a friend's house, Varzande suddenly died. At the same month Abdollah Dadvar (Qavam-os-Soltan), Saeed Hormozi, Nur-Ali Borumand (three great musicians), and Mojtaba Minavi (the famous University professor) all died and their death eclipsed the departure of one of the great santur players of Iran. ...