Ebi

Born in Tehran during 1949, Ebrahim Hamedi, known professionally as Ebi, formed the group Sun Boys alongside several companions during his youth and delivered renditions of traditional Iranian material to live audiences. His departure from that ensemble coincided with an introduction to Shahram and Sahbal Shabpare, after which he united with them and two additional emerging players to create the original five-piece Black Cats lineup that appeared regularly at Tehran’s prominent Kochini Club. Several years afterward he exited the collective in order to pursue independent work.

Widely regarded as one of the most cherished figures in modern Iranian music, Ebi attributes his stature to a resonant and nearly expansive baritone together with a catalog of memorable ballads and politically charged material. The initial trio of tracks he committed to tape—“Thirst,” “Why?,” and “Night”—included the last of these, whose lyrics came from Ardalan Sarafraz and whose music was supplied by Mansour Iran Nejad, quickly elevating his profile; he later reprised “Night” on the television program Silver Clove, an appearance he has described as the decisive step onto the charts.

Prior to the Islamic revolution of 1979 he completed six albums whose selections remain perennial requests among Iranian listeners, many of them drawn from film scores or previously issued singles. Following the 1979 upheaval, while Farhad, Maziar, and Googoosh elected to remain in Iran, Ebi belonged to the cohort that relocated abroad, chiefly to California; he had in fact departed two years earlier for a United States tour and never returned. In the ensuing period he issued thirteen further albums and performed at such landmark venues as Universal Amphitheatre, Shrine Auditorium, Greek Theatre, and Sydney Opera House.

Throughout his career he collaborated with the poets Iraj Jannati Ataee, Ardalan Sarafraz, Shahriar Ghanbari, and Homa Mirafshar, the composers Varoujan, Babak Bayat, Farid Zoland, Siavash Ghomayshi, and Estafdiar Monfared Zadeh, and the labels Avang and Caltex Records. His output falls within the Persian-language adult-contemporary genre and draws particular admiration for the lyrical contributions of Iraj Jannati Ataee and Ardalan Sarafraz. He has also produced patriotic and politically inflected pieces, foremost among them the enduring “Everlasting Persian Gulf” from the album Gulf, while the 2006 release Begrudging Flight, issued through Avang, addresses topics that include compromised women’s rights.