Ismail Masqati was born in 1922 in Kermanshah, Iran. His father was Mohammad Ibrahim, son of Mustafa Khan Wakil, who was a student of Mirza Agha Khan. Ishmael, who was very young at the time, would bring a board and imitate his father's playing. He entered the world of music at the age of 12 playing the percussion instrument, the tunbak, and then at the age of 18, he took up the strings, which he became very fond of.
While Murtaza Nay Davood and Yahya Zarin Panja were both residents of Kermanshah, he received a lot of talent from these two great artists. He also benefited greatly from the advice and guidance of Abul Hassan Saba, one of the most famous Iranian musicians and most of the famous Iranian artists were his students.
Ismail Masqati said that Abul Hassan Saba would compose all the Kurdish songs he composed for himself. Unfortunately, all the songs he wrote with the help of the late Saba were destroyed and only a few of them remained in his memory.
Ismail Masqati began his artistic career seriously on Radio Tehran, singing the songs Sahar Sahara and Ay Narma Narma, both of which were his own works. He worked with Radio Kermanshah for 18 years from the beginning of its establishment until two years after the Iranian People's Revolution. During this time, he collaborated with various orchestras of the radio.
During these years, Ismail Masqati recorded the most important songs with the help of Kurdish musicians, including: Kche Keche, Nazanina, Baw Baw, Papoo Sulaimani, Jamil Jamila and many other works All of them were his own works and he loved the songs Kcha Kacha and Nazanina more than any other work, which is very familiar to the Kurdish people. During that time, famous artists worked in Radio Kermanshah and formed a group together. These artists included Mohammad Abdul Samadi, Mojtaba Mirzadeh, Mahmoud Merati, Akbar Yazedi, Bahman Poolaki, Hassan Zirak, Mahmoud Baloori, Heshmatullah Lornejad and Seyed Ismail Pirkhdri and Ismail Muscat.
Muscati was passionate about singing at a young age; Therefore, he began to cooperate with the radio and television stations of that time, including the Kurdish Radio of Tehran and Kermanshah. Due to his expertise in music, he worked in the field of original and folk songs.
In recent years, he has performed several times with famous Kurdish musicians, and also recorded several songs with the music orchestra of Radio Kermanshah under the supervision of Abdul Samadi. After these songs were broadcast on Radio Kermanshah, Ismail Masqati became known throughout Kurdistan. Especially two songs Baw Baw and Papoo Sulaimani played a significant role in his introduction and fame.
On the other hand, this artist has performed in several private gathering, parties and weddings in Kurdistan cities, especially in Kermanshah. He also has performed Kurdish folk songs in Tehran several times.
In 2002, Ismail Masqati performed several works with the music group of artists living abroad under the supervision of artist Farooq Bapir on Media TV and actively participated in an art festival in Germany with this group.
Musqati is known as a genius of Buddha-playing and was very talented in the art of Buddha-playing, which is one of the foundations of Iran's indigenous music. In most of his works, Buddha playing means playing instruments in such a way that the melody he performed without notes with a song at the same time he performed the same melody in a newer and different way.
Ismail Masqati has composed many songs, music and works. These include Girl Girl, Nazanina, Baw Baw, Papoo Sulaimani, Jamil Jamila, Tati Margestam and Mina Mina. Ismail Masqati's style of playing the tar was unique and he did not imitate anyone in playing the tar. Many artists and musicians, including Hamid Reza Tahirzadeh, were very impressed by Ismail Masqati's style of playing the strings and continued to play the strings of Masqati.
Ismail Masqati's style of playing the strings also had a great impact on the listener. In addition to playing the strings, Muscat was also very talented in playing the setar, oud, violin, percussion, tambourine and daira, but the string was his special instrument.
During his years of activity and artistic service in the field of Maqam and singing, Ismail Masqati has presented a number of beautiful and valuable works to the world of Kurdish song and original music, which counted for more than 300 recorded works.
He was also very talented in singing Kurdish folk songs, especially those of Kermanshah region. With a special feeling that covered his whole body, he saved many Kurdish folk songs from death and in the most beautiful way and rhythm of various people for musical art Reviving the Kurdish original. Ismail Masqati is part of Kurdish folk music and has a great reputation throughout Kurdistan and Iran.
Ismail Masqati is a great singer and maqamat artist of Kermanshah, he has many important, powerful and beautiful works. Most of his songs are romantic and he has performed them in Kurdish in various institutions. After listening to them many times, they are still fresh and have the stamp of original Kurdish art and will always be remembered.
Kurdish singer Ismail Masqati passed away in Kermanshah in 2008 at the age of 86 after many years of work in the field of Kurdish music and song. The body of the artist was buried in the presence of a large number of artists, intellectuals, personalities, youth and artist-loving people of Kermanshah and its surroundings.[1]