Ramin Zoufonoun
Ramin Zoufonoun’s Artistic Biography
Born in Iran, Ramin is an established Persian-tuned pianist and a third generation in a line of musicians. His grandfather, Habib Zoufonoun, played and taught the tar. He also built musical instruments including tar, setar, and tombak in addition to his own variations on these instruments. Ramin’s father and mentor, Mahmoud Zoufonoun , was one of the founding members and instructors at the National Music Academy which R. Khaleqi and A. H. Saba helped establish, as well as a long-time member of the Golha orchestra , a composer, virtuoso violinist, and led various ensembles including the Somaii Ensemble.
Inspired by the works of Morteza Mahjoobi (1900-1965), Ramin became deeply interested in Persian-tuned piano and began to tune his own piano when he was a teenager. Over the years, Ramin deepened his knowledge of the radif music while enhancing his tuning and performance technique on the piano. In the mean time, he studied the tar with M. Zoufonoun, H. Alizadeh, and M.R. Lotfi. Ramin collaborated with various artists including Morteza Varzi, Jalal and Soheil Zoufonoun, in addition to his father and brothers as part of the Zoufonoun Ensemble . 
Ramin’s collaborations with jazz musicians such as John-Carlos Perea, Hafez Modirzadeh, Ken Filiano, Tim Volpicella, and Royal Hartigan resulted in various live performances and recordings including Raze Sama, an Afro-Persian suite inspired by the story of Rumi and Shams. In 2007 Ramin’s collaborations with Amirabbas Etemadzadeh and Jamshid Zarringhalam resulted in the release of the album Getting in Tune which contains Ramin’s renditions of some older standards including Deylaman , and Zarbe Osool – ancient Persian dance form and melody.
In 2006, Ramin founded the non-profit organization Z Venue with the mission to inspire and educate through artistic expressions and community involvement. Since then Z Venue has organized numerous events including a tribute to Ostad Mahmoud Zoufonoun which took place at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco on January 20, 2007.
Contact Ramin at zoufonounr@yahoo.com
