Mirza

Mirza (1): Iranian guitarist/composer, active 1990s-. (2) San Francisco instrumental psychedelic band, mid-to-late 1990s.

(1) Born in 1971 in Tehran, Babak Mirzakhani is a self-taught guitarist who first picked up the guitar in 1990. In 1996 started his university studies in Theater in which he performed as an actor, wrote music for student plays, directed two plays,and graduated with a B.A in 2000.

After graduation he has acted as assistant director in several movies, and from 2002 has focused his efforts and music compositions on a theater troupe created by his collegue Jalal Tehrani. As of 2006 he has written scores for 7 plays and 3 movies, and was nominated for best soundtrack for the play "Hey Big Man Don't Cry" from the Fajr Art Festival.

Mirzakhani is also a guitar tutor and currently teaches Blues Guitar at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. He recorded the album "Beyond the Seas" as a demo but was not able to publish it.

He has published his first album "Sleep" in 2006 with Bamahang Productions, and "Pinocchio" in 2008 with the same company.

http://babakmirzakhani.com/home.html
http://cdbaby.com/cd/mirza
http://cdbaby.com/cd/mirza2

(2) Instrumental neo-psych combo Mirza was the brainchild of guitarist Steven R. Smith, who formed the group from the remnants of his previous band, Ursa Minor. Based in San Francisco, Mirza released 'Anadromous' in 1997, their contribution to Darla Records’ ongoing "Bliss Out" series; the 'Iron Compass Flux' LP followed a year later. The band’s final release was the 'Last Clouds' LP on Ba Da Bing! Records -- a compilation of their debut 12” originally released on Autopia in 1996, plus 7 previously unreleased tracks.

The band were: Mark Williams, Brian Lucas, Glenn Donaldson, Steven R. Smith. Brian Lucas’ current project goes by the name of father beard.