Rostam Batmanglij (born November 28, 1983) is a producer and multi-instrumentalist of New York-based indie rock band Vampire Weekend and co-founder of electro-soul group Discovery. Batmanglij grew up in Washington D.C. His mother is the distinguished Persian cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij while his father is a publisher. His parents are both Iranian and arrived in D.C. in 1983. His brother is independent filmmaker Zal Batmanglij. The two collaborated on the recently released film, Sound of My Voice, which Rostam scored and which Zal directed and co-wrote. Batmanglij met the members of Vampire Weekend while attending Columbia University, where he majored in music. They started the group in their senior year. The name of the group comes from the movie of the same name that Ezra Koenig and his friends made over summer vacations. They self-produced their first album after graduation while concurrently working full-time jobs. Batmanglij primarily plays multiple instruments in the band but also acts as a lyricist, co-writing the song "Diplomat's Son" on Contra.