Ashkan Ghafouri was born in 1967 in Tehran. He studied past and contemporary Tar technique & styles and Persian Radif (classical modal system) from Hooshang Zarif.  Ashkan studied theory of music, harmony, and composition under direction of Farhad Fakhreddini. He has been an active member of Hossein Dehlavi Plucked Instrument Orchestra as well as other ensembles including Molana directed by Jalil Andalibi. After migrating to the United States of America, Ashkan refined his technique on Tar with help of Mohammad Reza Lotfi.

In January 2001, He founded the Tarschool as a school for Tar & Setar instruction in Northern California. Other musicians joined the school soon after its establishment, at which point it evolved into a cultural center for studying, performing and appreciating Persian classical and folk music.

In 2002, to live up the name of this great master, He established a Persian music ensemble named after master Neydavood which has performed throughout the U.S. Ashkan has written the notation of the entire works of Persian classical repertory known as Radif as narrated by Master Neydavood.

Hooshang Zarif and Ashkan are co-authoring a textbook (Farsi and English) on teaching the Persian Radif.
In recent years, Ashkan has started an intensive research on the life and works of one of the greatest Jewish Persian musician, masters of Persian classical music, Morteza Neydavood. He is still working for complete of this book

Ashkan has performed all over the U.S. in many festivals and has performed with many well known artists. He has recorded two CDs based on Persian classical music improvisation.

Tarschool in conjunction with the Internet Persian Classical Music radio, radiodarvish.com, created a non-profit organization called SCALE (School of Culture, Art,Literature and Entertainment).