TEHRAN -- “Endless Vision”, a live recording of world-renowned musicians Hossein Alizadeh of Iran and Djivan Gasparyan of Armenia, has been nominated in the category of Best Traditional World Music Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

The album was recorded at open-air concerts in Tehran from September 4 to 6, 2003 before a total audience of 12,000 people, with Vazgen Markaryan, Afsaneh Rasaii, Hurshid Biabani, Armen Ghazaryan, Ali Bustan, Mohammadreza Ebrahimi, Ali Samadpur, and Behzad Mirzaii accompanying the two musicians in the shows.

Alizadeh, 56, is one of Iran's leading traditional music composers and musicians. He is a virtuoso on the six-stringed Persian tar but also possesses great mastery of the four-stringed setar.

Along with Kayhan Kalhor, he recently left the band of Iran’s living legend of traditional music, vocalist Mohammadreza Shajarian, to seek new opportunities, but all acknowledged the breakup was on good terms.

Alizadeh is also the inventor of a stringed instrument, sallaneh, which is a sort of bass tar.

He performed tar on Shajarian’s album “Faryad”, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006.

“Ghazal”, an album that resulted from a collaboration between Kalhor and Indian sitar virtuoso Shujaat Hussein Khan, was nominated for a Grammy in 2004.

The world’s most prestigious prizes for excellence in the recording industry, the Grammy Awards are given in the United States by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).

The awards honor recordings in musical fields including pop, rock, jazz, blues, rap, classical, and folk.

The 49th Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 11, 2007.