Hossein Khajeh Amiri (born 1 January 1933), known professionally as Iraj, is a traditional Iranian singer.

Iraj has been nicknamed "Master of Song / Pahlevan Avaz" and is known by this nickname among his fans. Mohammad Reza Shajarian said about him: "Iraj's voice is a yardstick in the history of our singing, and anyone who wants to give an example of a voice at the highest level will say that the voice is similar to Iraj's voice."

In the pre-revolutionary era before 1979, in addition to traditional music and the Golha program, Iraj also sang songs in Persian films. He is the father of Ehsan Khajeh Amiri, a singer and composer, and Elika Khajeh Amiri, a musician.

Life

Hossein Khajeh Amiri was born on 1 January 1933 in Khaledabad, Natanz, a part of Isfahan Province, into a family of artists. His grandfather, Molla Mirza, was also a known singer, and his father, Nematollah, who had a beautiful and expressive voice and knew the radif, trained him for a long time. At that time, Hossein participated in ta'ziyeh (religious) singing ceremonies and learned to sing from ta'ziyeh singers who knew the radif and dastgah.

After completing his primary education, he went to Tehran and met Hamid Vafadar, the brother of the great composer Majid Vafadar, at a party. Vafadar, who had heard Iraj's impressive singing at that party, introduced him to Abolhassan Saba. Iraj entered Abolhassan Saba's school in 1947 and completed his knowledge in his presence for two consecutive years. Through him, he was introduced to Ebrahim Mansouri, who was in charge of supervising for Radio Iran. Since he was approved by Saba, he was not required to take any exams. From this date on, Iraj's collaboration with the Ebrahim Mansouri Orchestra began and he performed numerous programs.

After some time, in 1950, he was accepted into the Army Officers' Academy, where he participated in the Army program on Friday nights from 7:30 to 8:00 and performed with Mohammad Ali Baharloo's orchestra.

In 1951, Akbar Golpayegani and Jamshid Mashayekhi, both of whom famous and great figures in Iranian art in the fields of music and cinema, were also accepted into the Officers' Academy, and from that time on, Iraj and Golpa's friendship was formed and continued.

Iraj, whose real name is Hossein, could not use his real name in performing musical artistic programs at that time due to the restrictions imposed by the army, so he chose the pseudonym Iraj, which was his brother's name, and during these years, from 1948 to 1957, he performed with various orchestras, including the orchestras of Ebrahim Mansouri, Abdollah Jahanpanah, Mohammad Ali Baharloo, Nasrollah Zarrinpanjeh, Mehdi Khaledi, Javad Lashkari, Bozorg Lashkari, and so on. Iraj's successes continued until finally in 1957, when he was invited to this famous program by Davoud Pirnia, the founder of the Golha program, and in his first collaboration with this program, he sang Barg Sabz 43 in Shoor-Abu Ata theme and in collaboration with Ali Tajvidi, Farhang Sharif and Amir Naser Eftetah. Since then, his collaboration with the Golha program has continued.

In addition to performing on various radio programs, Iraj has also dedicated himself to performing songs and vocals for Persian films, and many actors, including Mohammad Ali Fardin, Manouchehr Vossough, Reza Beik Imanvardi, and… have lip-synched his songs.

The first film in which Iraj sang a song was Rozaneh Omid, directed by Sardar Sagar and with songs composed by Javad Lashkari.

In 2013, Iraj sang two new songs composed by Abbas Tajvidi, which have not yet been released.

The book "Iraj, the Genius of Iranian Singing"

The unveiling and signing ceremony of the book Iraj, the Genius of Iranian Singing was held on Friday, May 4, 2018, with the presence of Iraj Khajeh Amiri at the Sarai Ahl Ghalam, the Farhikhtegan Hall of the Tehran International Book Fair. Amir Esmail Azar served as the moderator, and Amir Ala Adili, publisher and one of the authors of the book, was present at this specialized session as a speaker. Adili mentioned Mollah Mirza and Nematollah Khajeh Amiri, Iraj's grandfather and father, as radif-skilled of the Isfahan school, and said that these masters had transferred their musical knowledge to Iraj. At the end of the ceremony, Iraj Khajeh Amiri was asked to perform a piece for the audience, and he sang a song that he had learned from his father and unveiled his book.

Albums

Iraj has sung more than 2000 songs and ballads in various programs during his artistic career.

Niaz
Ghazal khan
All eyes are on Iran
In memory of Fardin
Bird
Speechless
Rainy night 2006
Memories of life
My flower
Flowerless vase
Patient stone
Lovers' party by Anoushirvan Rouhani
Life story
Me and the master

Programs performed

213 Golha programs  (Barg Sabz - Golhaie Rangarang - Shakeh Gol - Golhaie Tazeh)
Army Radio programs
Student orchestra
Mohammad Baharloo orchestra
Ebrahim Mansouri orchestra
Abdollah Jahanpanah orchestra
Early Iranian music
Iranian FM music
A sound of national music
Poets tell stories
You and the radio
Poets' party
Performance of songs in about 105 Persian films
Fifth program of soloists in the theme of Isfahan with the piano of Pouyan Azadeh
Tenth program of soloists in the Mahour instrument with the piano of Pouyan Azadeh