My musical training started when I was 11. My brother, Peyman Azarmina, who was a student of Master Faramarz Payvar at that time, noticed my musical potential and convinced my parents to give it a shot. Master Payvar initially resisted and tried to convince me to try another instrument, but I insisted and my response was that I wanted to play the Fanous, one of his santour duets, with my brother one day. He agreed and the rest is history.

2. Shabdiz: My second album (left image) consisted of five pieces composed by me in the early 1990s: The Passionate, The Truth Seeker, The Contemplator, The Compassionate and Shabdiz (in three movements). This duet is a program music telling the story of a pre-Islamic black horse belonging to the Persian King of Khosro Parviz. Shabdiz was so favored by the King that he kept it on top of a mountain and threatened to behead anyone who would bring the news of its death. Time passed and Shabdiz eventually fell dead. Nobody had the courage to tell the King about the unfortunate news. They eventually reached out to Barbod, King’s court musician, who composed such a sad song that when he played it in front of the King, he whispered “It sounds so sad as if my Shabdiz is dead.”, Barbod then cleverly responded: “That’s what YOU said, your majesty!”

3. Rebellious Solitude:  This and the next album (Persian Nostalgia) were produced in the USA, which made a significant difference in the quality of sound and mixing. My intention was to capture the advanced repertoire for santour (Radif-e Chapkouk) in a digitally recorded format. The Persian mode of Dashti was chosen as a suitable medium to communicate ‘Rebellious Solitude’ state of mind. Throughout the album, you will hear the dual aspects of an ongoing internal conflict. Sometimes it is calm, introverted, contemplative and lonely; while at other times, there are musical expressions of unrest, struggle, contradiction and resistance. The clash of these two states is demonstrated through changes in tempo, variable notes of Dashti, expressive nuances and jumps from highs to lows and vice versa.

4. Persian Nostalgia: In this album, a selection of classical, traditional and modern Persian music is performed on the basis of a modal system, namely Isfahan from the ‘Advanced Repertoire for the Santour’. Aliases were chosen for the track names of this album that conveyed at least one aspect of Persian nostalgic feelings. Nevertheless, those aliases could also speak to the original names of the songs or compositions. For example, ‘Gates of Isfahan’ on the one hand can remind us of Iran’s Golden Age under the Safavid Dynasty and on the other hand, metaphorically it can mean the overture to the mode of Isfahan. The classics included in this album are some popular songs from the 20th century Iranian composers. They are rearranged for advanced level santour and juxtaposed against other pieces that are compatible within their hierarchy in the modal structure of Isfahan. The last piece is the artist’s interpretation of nostalgia: familiar-sounding and soothing, yet forward-looking and climactic, acknowledging the past while envisioning a brighter future.

4. Chapkook Advanced Repertoire for the Santour: In this collection, I video-recorded all 12 systems and subsystems of Master Payvar's advanced repertoire for the Santour and made them available for free on my YouTube channel and Instragram feed. The audio version of the album was published and made available on all major music streaming platforms such as iHeart Radio, Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.