Arash Sezavar, lyricist of Iran’s pop golden age, dies at 83

In BBC Persian, Faraj Balafkan reports the death of Arash Sezavar, a photographer, lyricist and composer from the golden age of Iranian pop music. Sezavar died in Tehran on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at the age of 83. He was born Mohammad-Hassan Sezavar Khojali in Fariman, in Khorasan, in 1944, and began working as a photographer in his teens to earn a living. At fifteen, on the advice of the composer and teacher Ataollah Khorram, he took the name Arash. In the late 1960s he joined a circle of young singers and songwriters around the arranger Parviz Maghsadi, and their rehearsal room in a shoe workshop later became Studio Pop. His best known songs include "Nemiad", sung by Googoosh, "Zendoon-e Del" and "Gham-e Tanhaei", sung by Fereydoun Foroughi, and "Ki Seda Kard Mano" and "Sekkeh-ye Mah", sung by Marjan. He also worked with the singer Nelli and with arrangers such as Eric Arcant and Andranik Asaturian. According to the article, the photographs he took of fellow artists now stand beside his songs as part of his legacy.