Edmond Ebrahimi

Did you know that one of the Assyrian Cultural Foundation’s Board Members, Edmond Ebrahimi, is also one of the Foundation’s music teachers?  He became a Board Member in 2014, but in 2019, he also began teaching group guitar classes to kids on Wednesday nights.  The classes proved to be popular and always had a large turnout.  Unfortunately, they were temporarily cancelled last spring due to COVID-19, but once the pandemic situation improves, Edmond plans to teach guitar lessons at ACF again.

Born in the city of Urmia, Iran, Edmond has always loved music.  Since both his father and grandfather used to enjoy singing, and his cousin, Albert Babagahsheh, became an opera singer in Tehran, Edmond believes that a love for music runs in the family.  However, after Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, many forms of music were banned or discouraged, making it difficult to learn music there.  Nevertheless, that did not stop Edmond from pursuing it.

In 1991, after high school and military service, Edmond attended a music school in Urmia where he learned how to play the guitar, specifically in the pop music style.  Then, from 1993 to 1995, he attended a different school and focused on classical guitar.  After that, he established an Assyrian band called Edsin with three friends in 1995.  Edmond played the guitar, sang, and wrote the lyrics for the band, while his friend, Sam Madoo, composed and arranged the music.  The band performed at different graduation parties and had its first pop music concert in Urmia in 1997.  In addition to performing with his band, from 1996 to 2000, Edmond also taught guitar lessons to adults.

Edmond left Iran in 2001, stayed in Austria for five months, and then came to the United States.  During his brief stay in Austria, he continued to play music and performed at a Persian restaurant there every Friday night.  Once he arrived in the United States, he started playing guitar and singing for his church, which is something that he also did back in Iran.  Today, Edmond works on making Assyrian music videos during his spare time.  You can watch his video, Kha Khooba, on YouTube.  He hopes to continue making more music videos in the future.