Vartan Sahakian

Ostad Vartan Sahakian, a composer, and a piano master and teacher in Tehran.

My reader, Mohammad, who is a tour guide in Tehran, in one of his excursions in Shahrestanak, near Tehran.

Mohammad would like to introduce his friend, Vartan Sahakian to us. It is best if I just let you read what he has to say about his special friend:

"ِThank you for giving us this chance to communicate our thoughts with you and your readers on what friendship is and who represents to us a good example of a great friendship. I'm so much pleased to say that I have been honored and privileged to have Mr. Vartan Sahakian as the "closest friend" of mine. (My formal tone employed to describe him simply reflects the high regard and the kind of special respect I hold for him ). Herewith, I would like to express my appreciation for the very great person he is to, not only me, but to a whole lot of others who have the complete privilege of knowing him. He is a treasure, an angel of kindness, and a real friend.

I can't simply put all my sense of appreciation for him in this note. He is a great source of inspiration for me, he is a man who stands by you at all times, who “thinks of you when you think he may not be thinking of you”, who is always there to "listen" to you and “identify” with you , who shares so sincerely with you his experiences of life and work and puts his best foot into solving your biggest puzzles and problems of life. I can't simply thank him enough for all he has been to me. I hope I can prove at all times that I deserve his friendship. Dear Nazy, I would like to know if there is anyone among your readers in this blog who are from Tehran AND who have a “piano” AND play it AND who don't know Vartan Sahakian or haven't heard of his name? I'm sure EVERYBODY who has been his student at some point of their lives either in the past or present , would testify to my claim that he is a unique treasure."

Thank you Mohammad Jan, for speaking so honestly about your friend, who seems to be a really decent and wonderful man. I am sure many of my other readers who are active in music in Tehran will recognize him. I recognize him because of his good heart. He is my friend now, too. Thank you for being so generous in sharing a friend and a friendship which is obviously very important to you. Thank you.

P.S. I am a bit embarrassed here! After I created this post, I actually went to do my own research on Vartan Sahakian. What I found was amazing! He is a composer who has written scores for Bahram Baizaee's Sag Koshi (Killing Mad Dogs), and other movies. Here is an interview Radio Zamaneh did with him just recently. Many Iranian singers, such as Homayoun Shajarian, list their training with Mr. Sahakian as a credit to their background. In fact, my own musician friend who lives in the area, Hamed Nikpay, lists his training with Mr. Sahakian as a point of great honor for himself. Mr. Sahakian has also translated several music books into Farsi. My hat's off to this extraordinary Iranian.