Pejman Hadadi is world-renowned as one of the most innovative Iranian percussionists. A two-time recipient of the prestigious Durfee Foundation Master Musician Award, he is the founder of Neyreez World Music Institute in Southern California. Pejman is a member of the highly acclaimed percussion ensemble ZARBANG. He has also been a member of the celebrated DASTAN Ensemble, one of the “most-forward looking Persian music ensembles” (LA Weekly), for more than ten years.
Pejman tours extensively in North America, Europe, Iran and Japan, performing in major international festivals and concert halls. In March 2007 he toured the US and Canada with the highly acclaimed composer and innovator of Persian Music, Hossein Alizadeh, performing at venues such as UCLA Royce Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts, and Carnegie Hall. He was commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Choral and performed at Disney Hall with the Choral in June 2007.
He began playing Tombak at the age of ten with master musicians Asadollah Hejazi and Bahman Rajabi. In 1990, he immigrated to the United States and began his professional career, performing and recording with ensembles of Persian classical music as well as Indian, Turkish and American musicians. He brings to Persian rhythm an Indian percussive sensibility that he has studied over the years. Much of ancient Persian rhythm has been adopted by Indian musical culture and can be found in their repertoire. Pejman has a deep interest in uncovering these ancient sources. One of his most recent endeavors is uncovering the sound of Persian Qavali. He has written a number of Persian Qavali pieces, which he has performed and recorded with ZARBANG and Morshed Mehregan. Pejman is known for his modern approach to the traditional Tombak, which lies in his ability to produce melodic patterns within rhythmic structures as well as creating complex variations on the basic sounds of the instrument.
Hadadi innovated a version of custom-made Tunable Frame Drums, (Davaayer-e Kooki) and brought them into Iranian music for the first time. These drums create harmonic intervals, which enables the musician to play melodic patterns and add a new dimension to an ensemble.
Pejman has written a number of compositions for dance, and has been the resident composer and percussionist with Banafsheh Sayyad and NAMAH since 1998. He has recorded and performed with an impressive list of premier musicians including Shahram Nazeri, Hossein Omoumi, Parisa, Ali Akbar Moradi, Ardeshir Kamkar, Shujaat Hossein Khan, Adam Rudolph, Nejati Celik, Halil Karadoumon, and Yair Dalal.
Recent performances in major international festivals:
Sfinks Festival in Holland
Musica dei Popoli in Italy
Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, and Orientale Festival in Germany
Festival De Saint Florent Le Vieil in France
Lotus Festival in Indianapolis, Bootstrap Creative Emergence, and World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles, and San Francisco World Music Festival, in USA
He has also performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Theatre De La Ville in Paris, at California Plaza and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.