World Fusion Auteur Jamshied Sharifi Departs the Globe.
by John Diliberto 8/18/2025
Jamshied Sharifi Photo-J-Diliberto
An explorer of world fusion has left the planet. Jamshied Sharifi is gone at only 64.
If you read the conventional bios of Jamshied, you’ll find mentions of his 2018 Tony Award for orchestrating the stage adaptation of The Band’s Visit. They note his graduating summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music, graduating from MIT while also leading the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and his work in films. But I knew him as a pioneer of world fusion, working with musicians from around the globe to create a new, 21st-century sound. Jamshied Sharifi crossed traditions, mixing instruments from Mexico, Africa, and the Middle East in percussively melodic arrangements with his keyboards and electronic wind instrument.
Mamak Khadem, Hassan Hakmoun, Jamshied Sharifi in live Echoes Living Room Concert 2008
Born on October 17, 1960, in Topeka, Kansas, Jamshied was never destined to have typical Midwestern roots. His father was Iranian and exposed him to Middle Eastern music. While studies in classical music and jazz carried him in another direction, he returned to those sounds in the mid-1990s with the world fusion trio Mo Boma, alongside German guitarist Carsten Tiedemann and Icelandic bassist Skúli Sverrisson. They recorded four albums on the Extreme label, including the trilogy Myths of the Near Future. Going back to these records now, they still sound like the lost music of a futuristic tribe. When I interviewed Mo Boma in Jamshied’s apartment back then, he was, perhaps ironically, in Scandinavia, so I didn’t meet him then but the rest of us sat on the floor of his apartment talking about all things electronic, global, and fused.
I didn’t hear much about Jamshied for a few years, but he was busy composing film scores including “Harriet the Spy.” In 1997, he returned with the brilliant album A Prayer for the Soul of Layla. The title honored his daughter, Layla Sakamoto Sharifi. The recording brought together singers from Africa, the Middle East, and the U.S., interwoven with intricate rhythms and electronic textures. Singers included Morocco’s Hassan Hakmoun, Iranian-American Mamak Khadem, and Marie Alfonso. It was Echoes Album of the Year in 1997.
More film scores followed, including Muppets from Space, Down to Earth, and Clockstoppers, and contributions to the scores of The Thomas Crown Affair and The Rugrats Movie. That work made it 11 years before his next recording, One. I have a personal connection to this album. In 2001, on the one-month anniversary of 9/11, we sent out a call to musicians to submit music as part of An Echoes Requiem for 9/11.
Aukai, Jamshied Sharifi, John Diliberto Living Room Concert 2018
Jamshied Sharifi sat down and in just a couple of days composed the most haunting and moving track we received. Simply called “Requiem,” it featured his wife and daughter singing in pygmy-inspired voices, along with Moroccan singer Hassan Hakmoun. Reworked slightly, with Seamus Egan from Solas added on low whistle, it remained a poignant lament and became the powerful conclusion to One. I still remember him telling me about standing on the roof of his Upper West Side apartment, watching the Twin Towers burn and fall. Being of Iranian descent, and intuitively knowing what this meant even before the details emerged, his distress was palpable and haunting.
One was a journey proclaiming a world in unity, not war. It was a voyage of global poignancy and ecstasy, with singers including Paula Cole, Morocco’s Hassan Hakmoun, Tibetan vocalist Yungchen Lhamo, Iranian-born mystical singer Sussan Deyhim, and English-born ghazal singer Vishal Vaid. Koras, kotos, violas and more wove this transglobal journey.
One would be Jamshied’s last official solo album, but he went on to produce phenomenal recordings for artists including Mamak Khadem, Yungchen Lhamo, Mirabai Ceiba, Aukai, and Shunia. That last project marked the final time I spoke with Jamshied in 2021. I had interviewed him with each of his solo albums, and the last time I saw him face-to-face was in 2018 for a live Echoes session in his studio with Aukai.
Jamshied Sharifi was one of the most genuine people you’d ever meet. I’d say he was slender, but really he was skinny and wiry, with an angular face and close-cropped hair, framed by thick black eyebrows—all of which seemed to counter the most inviting smile. I already know so many musicians and fans are mourning. I first heard the news from a post by Azam Ali, who recalled being part of the live on-screen band in a scene from the movie Rollerball.
Artists are just discovering the loss of Jamshied.
Hassan Hakmoun
Friday we have lost a legendary Un replaceable Musician, Father and husband and brother too many of us. RIP jamshied sharifiAzam Ali
Jamshied was one of the great musicians of our community, and I had the honor of working with him and knowing him personally. He was genuine and all heart to his core. Though born in Kansas to an Iranian father and American mother, he cherished the music of the Global North and enriched it profoundly.
Broadway producer Billy Stein/Strange Cranium
RIP Jamshied. You will be missed.. jamshiedsharifi ❤️
Jamshied left the planet on Friday August 15 after a long bout with cancer. He is survived by his wife Miyuki Sakamoto, daughter Layla and son, Kai as wel as his father brother and sister.
With Jamshied Sharifi’s passing, a gaping tear has ripped through the world fusion scene. Say a prayer for the soul of Jamshied Sharifi.
FYI, MIT has never conveyed Greek honorifics such as cum laude, etc. Nor, incidentally, do they do class GPA rankings. So the assertion of Jamshied, “… graduating summa cum laude from MIT …” is not correct. I attended MIT and lived in the same dorm, Bexley Hall, as Jamie (as we knew him); I graduated one year earlier in 1982. I fondly recall many Friday evenings hanging out in his studio listening to him and his jazz band rehearse. He was a truly talented individual and just an all-around great person. Gone way too soon.
You’re correct. He graduated Summa Cum laude from Berklee. Thanks for the correction.
Jamie’s musical foot print was wide and deep. He had no barriers and friends everywhere.
I like to think he’s in heaven jamming with Herb Pomeroy and all the other jazz greats, teaching them new ideas.
He was the best… in every way, to everyone.
(His father died earlier this year btw, before Jamshied by a few months.)
Jamshied Sharifi Ensemble performance – Audio-Visual Festival, Lanzarote – 2000
Those, who were lucky enough to attend the performance of ‘The Jamshied Ensemble’ in the cave system at Jameos del Agua, Lanzarote, the finale of annual Audio-Visual festival in 2000, will probably never forget this experience. The ‘Ensemble’ was a ‘one-off’ with a diverse variety of musicians, from across the ‘World Music’ spectrum, drafted in for this ‘one-off’ concert.
I was aware of Jamshield’s wonderful music before this event, but was unsure whether the Lanzarote festival audience would appreciate the experience. Within minutes, I was aware that this was a truly wonderful event, being shared by all present; the diversity of sound textures and rhythms, brought together from sources from all over the globe was mesmerising. I was not surprised that the performance was followed by a prolonged standing ovation.
I will never forget that evening – Jamshied, thank you, for assembling such a wonderful ensemble for the performance in 2000. May your contribution to fostering and encouraging ‘Global Togetherness’ through your uniquely-sensitive approach to music reach and touch ‘Humankind’ forever.