Biography
Rowshan was born in Tabriz and grew up in Tehran, Iran playing traditional Azeri and Persian music on the accordion and drum (Azeri naghara, tef and gosha naghara) with his family. His father, renowned tar player/composer Behruz Dowlatabadi frequently opened his house to visiting musicians from Iran and around the world (including Chile and Palestine). As a child, Rowshan enjoyed searching for interesting world music on the shortwave radio. In 1992, he moved to Istanbul, Turkey to pursue a degree in Computer Engineering at Bosphorus University. While performing Azeri music with his brother at The James Joyce Irish Pub, he got hooked on traditional Irish music. Soon he was playing bodhran and accordion with the pub's house band. In 1998, he and some friends formed VIP (Very Important Potatoes) playing Celtic, Turkish and Blues music. Then, in 1999 the band name was changed to 9okuz8ekiz (9/8) merging Celtic, Turkish, Balkan and Scandinavian music. Other projects include appearances with Balkan accordionist Muammer Ketencoglu; music with his father for the for the documentary "Last Caravan of the Silk Road" by Paxton Winters; music with his wife for the documentary "Turkey and the EU" by Zarife Ozturk; and a guest appearance on the album Caravan. After graduating from the university, Rowshan moved to the United States. While in Seattle, he played Irish music for the Canadian Consulate, at numerous Irish sessions and at the Seattle Center. In 2002, he moved to San Diego. Rowshan started played accordion and percussion with Skelpin between 2004-2007 and appeared on their album RUA / ROJO. He also performed with Group Anatolia, a Turkish folkloric group located in San Diego. He is interested in making and repairing musical instruments. He collects pins (for his hat) and world music records.