Songs like “Haj Ghorban” and “A Week of Moonlight” dazzle with Mirarab’s enigmatic, transcendent guitar playing, fusing Middle Eastern textures with traditional jazz rhythms.
"All About Jazz"
Mahan Mirarab is a musician, composer, and educator based in Vienna. He teaches at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW). Beyond his academic work, he has written and arranged music for Opera Roma Baron (Vienna Straussfest), Beyond the Roots Orchestra in Cologne, Female Voices of Iran Orchestra, Impossible Stage in Berkeley, California, and NAWA Orchestra, among others.
He has released six albums and produced music for artists such as Alim Qasimov, Sakina Teyna, and Basma Jabr. His collaborations include projects with the NDR Bigband, Tonkünstler Orchester, Vision String Quartet, Aynur Doğan, and Anthony Braxton, and he has collaborated with leading record labels including ACT, ECM, and Warner Classics, among others.
Rooted in Tehran and based in Vienna, Mirarab’s multi-neck guitar speaks an honest and intimate language—one that transcends words, weaving together stories of migration, memory, and belonging. His music brings together European chamber textures and the fluidity of contemporary jazz, opening new pathways into the heart of Iranian classical traditions. These are not mere fusions but reimaginings: soundscapes where heritage and innovation move freely and reshape one another.
Mirarab belongs to a generation of young migrant artists in Europe who are redefining the borders of sound. With a commitment to dialogue, diversity, and collective creativity, he seeks to craft new narratives around Middle Eastern cultures and jazz. His approach results in a musical language that is both intricate and disarmingly accessible—inviting listeners to think deeply, feel openly, and move with the pulse of the music.
As a composer and arranger, Mirarab draws from a rich and expansive musical vocabulary. His rhythmic and harmonic language reflects journeys across jazz, experimental and electronic music, acoustic traditions, and the worlds of film, dance, and theatre. His work avoids cliché; instead, it expands the possibilities of how traditions can meet, challenge, and transform one another.
In Mirarab’s music, tradition is not preserved—it is reborn. The interplay of European chamber music and West Asian art music elements evokes reflection as much as movement. His music is dynamic and spacious, leaving room for breath and imagination, yet it can groove and dance with unmistakable energy. It can descend into darkness and rise suddenly into brightness and joy. His compositions draw on lived experience, shaping a sound world that spans an unusually wide emotional range. “Music can be played softly and still groove,” he notes. “For me, silence defines the notes I play.”
A restless and versatile spirit, he moves fluidly between European, Iranian, Arabic, and Kurdish classical music. His collaborations span continents: from the Vision String Quartet, Tonkünstler Orchester, and Berlin Metropolitan Orchestra to the NDR Bigband and Anthony Braxton Orchestra; from Kurdish music with Aynur Doğan and Sakina Teyna to Azerbaijani and Turkish traditions with Alim Qasimov and Erkan Oğur; and to Iranian and Arabic classical forms with artists such as Golnar Shahyar, Misagh Joolaee, and Kinan Azmeh.
Short Text
Mahan Mirarab is a Vienna-based musician, composer, and educator whose work explores the intersections of Iranian musical traditions, contemporary jazz, European chamber music, and experimental sound. His music is shaped by migration, memory, and storytelling, creating a language where spaciousness, groove, and emotional nuance coexist. Through his distinctive multi-neck guitar approach, he reimagines West Asian modal systems in dialogue with improvisation and modern harmony.
He teaches at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW), and has written for Opera Roma Baron (Vienna Straussfest), Beyond the Roots Orchestra, Female Voices of Iran Orchestra, Impossible Stage in Berkeley, and the NAWA Orchestra. He has released six albums and worked with artists such as Alim Qasimov, Sakina Teyna, and Basma Jabr, as well as with the NDR Bigband, Tonkünstler Orchester, Vision String Quartet, Aynur Doğan, Anthony Braxton, and labels including ACT, ECM, and Warner Classics.
In Mirarab’s music, tradition is not preserved—it is reborn. The interplay of European chamber music and West Asian art music creates space for reflection and movement. His sound is dynamic and spacious yet capable of deep groove and dance. It moves between darkness and sudden brightness, drawing on lived experience to express a wide emotional range. “Music can be played softly and still groove,” he says. “For me, silence defines the notes I play.”