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Releases October 10. Preorder available.

Mohammad Reza Mortazavi (b. 1978, Iran) began playing the Tombak at the age of six. His extraordinary talent quickly became evident—by the time he was nine, he had already surpassed his teacher’s ability to guide him further.

That same year, he won Iran’s prestigious national Tombak competition, a contest reserved for the country’s most skilled percussionists—a feat he would go on to repeat six more times in the years that followed.

By the age of twenty, Mortazavi was widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost Tombak players. Over the course of his career, he has developed more than 30 innovative playing and finger techniques, fundamentally transforming the instrument’s traditional performance style.

His powerful, hypnotic live performances have been featured at renowned venues including the Berlin Philharmonie and the Sydney Opera House. In recent years, Mortazavi’s rhythmic explorations have resonated deeply with the experimental electronic music scene, leading to collaborations with artists such as Burnt Friedman, Fis, and Mark Fell.