Watch Marouf’s video (in Finnish) from our Instagram page.
Marouf Majidi is an Iranian-Finnish music creator, composer and folk musician best known for his projects MA Rouf, BaranBand and most recently Mood Suprim that draws inspiration from Sufi music. He works with performing arts projects and various bands and draws inspiration from Middle Eastern traditions and jazz. Marouf plays several string instruments, such as tanbur, setar, tar, dutar and sar, as well as many wind and bowed string instruments.
Marouf was awarded a Teosto Cultural Foundation grant in the autumn of 2025 for “acquiring the first electrically amplified tanbur and its effect pedals”. We asked Marouf how the instrument project is coming along.
”My instruments are quite quiet ones but from the beginning I wanted to play them in large ensembles with drums and synthesizers and saxophones, and those are loud instruments. But whenever you amplify the instrument – and believe me I have experimented with different setups – the sound changes and the technique too, something is always lost. It has been my mission for years to build an instrument that preserves the original character and playing technique but also gains more power, still sounds organic and can be heard better. The project has been in the work for years. The instrument was supposed to be built in Iran, but the situation there is really difficult right now and all communication has been cut off.”
You are part of several ensembles and you compose music for them. Where do you find inspiration for composing?
”I am the composer of all my groups. In recent years I have made quite a lot of theatre music. At the moment, I have my third music theatre production in the UK. It is a new field for me, I have studied for it and am trying to find a new tonal language.
I get my greatest inspiration from moments with people, encounters where music truly connects us. Identity is another key thing for me. I am inspired by movement, the idea that identity is constantly shifting. I try to give a voice to this experience through my music. I am interested in sound as a physical experience, what happens before it becomes a song, when it is still raw and real.
I am also inspired by old oral traditions, human encounters and the fluidity of identity. The body, the voice, the story. What feels lived and not just explained. When tradition and the present meet.
Tradition can be from ten years ago but also a hundred years old – it’s all alive.”
Marouf is making a podcast series called Sufisuomalainen (Sufi-Finnish) via Mood Suprim that discusses tradition and identity – who is Finnish.
”What is the moment when you become Finnish? I have lived almost half of my life in Finland. Am I now Finnish? We have created music with Sámi singers, Hilja Grönfors and Asa and we have explored this question of identity. The podcast has been recorded and will be published later.”
You received a grant in the autumn of 2025. What significance did it have at that moment?
”A grant is not just money; it is time, freedom and trust. In concrete terms, it allows you to concentrate on creative work without constant financial stress. It allows you to go deeper into your own expression, it creates a sense that your work has value.
The impact of a grant can be seen more deeply in the projects that you are involved in. They move forward and grow, almost like a child that receives attention.
I was in the Music Committee of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland for four years evaluating applications. I think that no matter who receives a grant, it benefits the entire Finnish music scene. For example, if a project that I collaborate with receives a grant, it benefits my project as well. Or if a particular genre receives a significant grant, it benefits the whole genre. All the money that is awarded stays in Finland and supports everybody’s work. The community is quite small after all.”
A warm thank you to Marouf for the conversation!
Read more from Marouf’s homepage at www.maroufmajidi.com
Grants for music creators can be applied twice a year 1.-21.3. and 1.-21.9. Read more about applying and see all who have been awarded grants.