Sima Bina

Sima Bina (, Simā Binā, born 4 January 1945) is an Iranian traditional musician, composer, researcher, painter and teacher, described by Radio WDR Germany as the “grand lady of Iranian folk music”. Bina’s performing arts career has spanned more than five decades. Bina has gathered and revived a collection of nearly forgotten Iranian folk songs and melodies. She has done extensive research on their origin, which included collecting, recording, writing and re-interpreting popular regional music. Her works cover the entire spectrum of Iranian folk music, including Mazandarani music, Kurdish music, Turkmen music, Baloch music, Lur music, Shirazi music, Bakhtiari music, and the music of North and South Khorasan. Early life and career Born in Birjand, Khorasan, in the heart of the popular tradition, she started her career on Iranian radio at the age of nine, under the guidance of her father, Ahmad Bina – a master of Iranian classical music and poet who wrote many of her early songs. Bina studied the radif repertoire and avaz vocal technique with great masters such as Maaroufi and Zarrin Panjeh. She acquired her own solo program, Golhaye Sahraii (Flowers of the Desert), presenting a colle