Mohammad Shabani’s story as a self-taught Percussionist is nothing short of inspiring as he started to
explore his talent at a very young age. Born in Tehran in 1987, the Iranian Percussionist started to
learn percussion at the age of 13. In the same year, he was good enough to play with the percussive
band, “Ada” on stage.
From that time until he turned 16, he worked with several semi-professional bands in the field of pop
music with the conga instrument and gained more experience. He continued to study the instrument
by himself until he was 18 after which he travelled abroad to study the instrument with Luis Ernesto
Gomez and Adrian Gonzalezes. This, of course helped him to get more professional experience and
exposure which he would later leverage on to collaborate with some of the most important people in
the Iranian music industry.
Some of his most outstanding collaborations in pop music would include famous Iranian singers such
as Mohammad Isfahani, Mojtaba Kabiri, Behnam Safavi, Morteza Pashaei, Hamid Hami, Mehdi
Yaghmaei, Nima Masiha, Amir Tajik, Mohammad Alizadeh, and Masoud Sadeghlou among others.
Mohammed Shabani’s career officially took off in 2006 with professional pop music bands. As an
exceptional musician, he won first place in the same year with the “Accent” band. He went on to win
the second place the following year with the Cadence band during the competition period of the Fajr
music festival.
He also holds record of collaborations with world class bands such as Ars Nova, a well recognized
Jazz Latin Band and Naima, a Jazz Fusion Band. This would be one of his biggest achievements from
2013-2018. The talented Percussionist, again boasts of appearances in over 20 domestic music
albums. To sharpen his skill and expand his knowledge base, Mohammed Shabani travelled to South
America in 2017 to learn more about Afro Cuban music. He studied with music masters Luis
Quintana Changuito and Rolando Salgado.
During his prime time as an artist, he released three albums, “Dance with Rhythm of the Beach”,
“Back to Dreaming” in Latin Jazz and Jazz Fusion genres and “ Blue Dream” which was released in
2021. His first album, “Dance with Rhythm of the Beach” was nominated for the best composition at
the Fajr music festival.
During his working years, he held several workshops teaching students. Mohammed Shabani’s talent,
knowledge, skill and reputation does go before him as many famous Iranian singers are pleased to
work with him and reach out for collaborations. Being in the industry for over 2 decades, the
exceptional musician has carved a niche for himself and has taken his place as one of the leaders. He
still holds a solid reputation in the Iranian music space which he plans to build on as he takes the next
step in his career.
Currently, Mohammad Shabani holds positions as artist for Yamaha, Istanbul Agop Cymbals, and
Leivapercussion.