Luthiers · Tehran, Iran
Mousavi
Tombak Maker
Tehran-based maker of the Persian tombak — the goblet drum at the heart of Iranian classical and folk rhythm — hand-shaping walnut shells in a traditional Tehran workshop, with twenty-five years at the bench.
Mousavi is a Tehran-based maker of the Persian tombak (also known as the tonbak or zarb), the goblet-shaped hand drum that carries the rhythmic language of Iranian classical and folk music. The instrument’s name itself is said to echo its two core voices — the deep tom struck at the centre of the skin and the bright bak sounded at the rim.
Working from a traditional workshop in Tehran, Mousavi belongs to a quiet lineage of Iranian artisans who learn the craft slowly and by hand, treating each drum as a voice rather than an object. With roughly twenty-five years at the bench, he shapes the tombak the way the tradition asks: a single body hollowed and refined until the shell rings true, then matched with a carefully mounted skin whose tension gives the drum its clarity and depth.
His preferred material is walnut — a dense, warm-toned hardwood long favoured by Iranian makers for the projection and balance it lends the instrument. Tapadum carries Mousavi’s tombaks within its Persian-classical collection, alongside the santur, setar, and daf makers who shape the sound of the dastgāh repertoire.
