Kourosh Yagmaei

Kourosh Yaghmaei (Persian: کوروش یغمایی ‎‎) (born December 3, 1946), is an Iranian guitarist, singer, and early pioneer of rock music in Iran. He is best known internationally for his unique presentation of early Iranian rock throughout the 1970s. He is part of the Yaghmaei family, the second son of his branch of the family. His brother, Keyvan, was very successful in school in the sixth grade. As a reward, their father got them instruments. Keyvan was bought a violin, and Kourosh was given a santur. Since Kourosh's first instrument was the santur, he learned and followed traditional Iranian music at first. Soon, he became interested in Western music, starting with Bach and whatever music was on the radio at the time. He taught himself how to play guitar by listening to records of bands such as The Ventures. In the early 1960s, Kourosh joined a group called The Raptures, who would play covers of The Ventures, The Kinks, The Beatles, and The Monkees, all of whom Kourosh revered. Kourosh and his band would repeatedly have difficulty finding proper instruments for his music, relying on rented equipment and using the upper strings on an electric guitar to fill in for a proper bass guitar.

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