NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 19TH, 2024

إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Davlatmand Kholov, the beloved master of Tajik folk music passed away today 18.02.2024 in Dushanbe at the age of 74. During his life and decades long musical career which began in the Soviet years, he sung many folk songs and mastered the genres of Shashmaqam and most notably the Falak genre. He also sung many spiritual poems from great Persian poets such as Mawlana Rumi, and in his later years sung a number of songs for the Ahlebait, cooperating with revolutionary Iranian singers such as Sadiq Ahangaran. One of Ustod Davlatmand Kholov’s most famous songs was “Panoh” a song about Imam Reza that he recorded in 2005. I had the coincidental honor of meeting Davlatmand Kholov once in Dushanbe several years ago, at the time he was performing a song along with an orchestra in front of Kokhi Vahdat for Ruzi Vahdati Milli (National Unity day in Tajikistan). It was pretty crowded and it was being recorded for television, however I waited around and eventually I got the chance to introduce myself and I asked him about his song Panoh and told him I enjoyed it and other of his songs very much.

The lack of his presence will be greatly felt in the field of Persian traditional music.

Худо раҳматаш кунад ҷояшон ҷаннат шавад…