Sonbol Taefi

Sonbol Taefi is an Iranian-born New Zealand singer, composer and music producer whose work includes Persian-language music and musical settings of texts from the Baháʼí writings and Persian poetry. She has released albums in Persian and English and has performed internationally in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, South Africa, China, Macau, Samoa, England and Argentina.

Early life and education Taefi was born in southern Iran and began performing as a child. She appeared on children's television programmes in Bandar Abbas from the age of nine and subsequently performed with bands and orchestras. She participated regularly in arts festivals and won first prize in performance and singing for five consecutive years before completing high school. She later moved to London, where she studied for five years.

Her subsequent albums included Parvaz , Shiraz, Season of Light, In the Path of Love, Along the Tigris, the EP I Am Iran (, Man Iranam; 2013), Sea of Mystery and Ámis (2018).

Sea of Mystery In 2013, Taefi recorded Sea of Mystery, a predominantly Persian-language album, with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague. The album was conducted and produced by composer Tom Price and subsequently released in 2014. It contains 13 tracks combining Persian texts and orchestral arrangements.

Coral & Pearls Taefi's latest released album is Coral & Pearls, a multilingual devotional album released in 2020. The album contains nine songs based on writings of the Báb, Baháʼu'lláh and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, recorded using acoustic instrumentation including piano, guitar, santour, percussion and strings. Most of Taefi's musical work is in Persian, although she also performs in English and other languages; Coral & Pearls includes Persian, English, Arabic and Spanish material.

The album features collaborations with musicians including Luke Slott, Elika Mahony and Nasime Wattiaux. The title track is based on a marriage prayer revealed by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá; Taefi first set it to music for her daughter's wedding before later arranging it for full ensemble and recording it with the Czech National Symphony.

Discography Selected albums include: The Other Wing (1996) Verses of the Enamoured (1999) Season of Light (2000) Parvaz (2004) (no longer commercially available) I Am Iran (, Man Iranam; EP, 2013) Sea of Mystery (2014; recorded 2013) Ámis (2018) Coral & Pearls (2020)

Taefi's catalogue also includes later singles and collaborative recordings, such as The Photograph (2012) and Sarnevesht (2020). Two further singles, Jane Jahan and Yek Rooz, set poems by Mahvash Sabet to music.