The passing of Shir-Mohammad Espandar at the age of 98 marks the end of an extraordinary chapter in the history of Iranian music. Born in 1931 in Bampur, in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, Espandar first learned to play the reed flute from his father. As a young man, he traveled to what is now Pakistan, where he encountered the doneli. His recordings—particularly the album Music of Baluchistan: Shir-Mohammad Espandar, released by the Mahoor Institute—remain invaluable documents of one of Iran’s oldest living musical traditions and continue to inspire musicians and researchers alike. In his later years, despite losing his eyesight to cataracts, Espandar remained deeply concerned about the future of the doneli.