The death of Nasser Masoudi, the oldest surviving singer of Gilaki poetry and one of the last great regional vocalists of Iran, marked the end of a luminous chapter in Iranian musical history. Known affectionately as the “Nightingale of Gilan”, he passed away at the age of 90 in his beloved hometown of Rasht—the city that had shaped his identity, voice, and artistic destiny. His passing was not merely the disappearance of a singer, but the extinguishing of a living bridge between Iran’s pre-radio folk traditions and the golden age of national broadcasting.
Masoudi was not only the last surviving artist of the legendary radio programs Golhay Sahraei and Barg Sabz within the domain of regional Iranian music, but he was also a rare vocalist who had directly apprenticed under masters of classical Iranian instrumental music such as Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi and Ahmad Ebadi. This dual inheritance—rooted in both folk culture and elite classical training—made his artistic personality singularly multidimensional. In addition to his profound contributions to Gilaki music, he left behind a compelling body of work in the style of street and popular urban songs, further broadening the expressive range of his career.
