Born in Tehran in 1973, Negar Booban studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, earning an MA in Architecture with her design of Tehran’s future Conservatory. Focusing on special acoustic design, she concurrently studied music and musical acoustics, becoming interested in the principles of Iranian music of the past. Negar later mastered the oud and Iranian radif (a collection of old melodies handed down by masters to students throughout the generations) and since 1994 has worked with numerous ensembles of Iranian classical music. She has given over one hundred performances, including the Fajr and Yas Music Festivals, and made several recordings. Negar is also deeply involved with the art of improvisation, both in traditional dastgah (Persian musical modal system) and in free improvisation on themes of various origins and modes. Her solo oud album, Payaapey (Continuous), was released in August 2008. She holds a PhD in Art Research, with her dissertation on a comparative study of rhythm in Iranian music and Persian language and is currently an instructor of oud at the Tehran Conservatory of Music.