Pirayeh Pourafar began her musical life at the age of nine when she entered the Royal National Music Conservatory of Tehran. In addition to her study of the radif, the basis for traditional Persian music, Pourafar chose the tar as her instrument. Made of mulberry wood with a double-bellied body, its two and a half octaves are played with a plectrum. Pourafar has traveled widely throughout the East and West, and in America has played with a number of classical Persian ensembles as well as fusion groups. Her group, the Lian Ensemble, has also made a number of recordings