Introduction to Aref Qazvini
Aref Qazvini was born in Qazvin in 1880, learned Persian and Arabic grammar completely in his youth there. Aref was interested in poetry and literature and acquired music from Mirza Sadeq Kharrazi. For a time at his father’s insistence, he started rawża-ḵᵛānī (martyrdom-recitation) with one of the Qazvin’s preachers and put an Imamah. However, after Molla Hadi Vakil’s death (his father), he took off his Imamah and did not continue to martyrdom-recitation. Aref came to Tehran at 16, and he quickly entered the Qajar court due to his extraordinary talent in poetry and music. He was first noticed by Prince Vosough od-Dowleh and served in his court for a while, then Muzaffar ul-Din Shah admired his voice and hired him as his servant. Aref Qazvini hated this job, and despite the financial need, he rejected the offer, returned to Qazvin. “I have always wanted dignity and honour, and even my close friends did not dare to suggest me such jobs,” he writes.
Mystic love for the beloved
Aref Qazvini fell in love with a girl named Khanum Bala, at 17, secretly married her. After realizing this, he was under Ms. Bala’s family pressure to divorce their daughter. He was forced to move to Rasht for a while and after returning, despite his great love and affection for the woman, he divorced Khanum Bala and did not marry for the rest of his life.
Aref Qazvini and Constitutional Revolution
Aref Qazvini was 23 years old in the first days of demanding constitutionalism. He contributed to the success of the Persian Constitutional Revolution with his lyric poems a lot. From the very beginning of the freedom revolution, Aref turned to the constitutionalists and spent his talent on the path of freedom. One of his most famous works at that period is the lyric of the message of freedom. He was one of the first people to combine poetry and music with social and ballad themes, setting his poetry, music, and voice on the path of the Constitutional Revolution. During the revolution, Aref participated in the struggles with the people and used his art to strengthen their militant spirit with the poems often had the concepts of patriotism and libertarianism. He sang the famous ballad “Az Khoone Javanane Vatan” following the conquest of Tehran, which has remained so lasting since then. Because Aref Qazvini’s poems often referred to the concepts of patriotism, he was called a national poet. Aref Qazvini went to Hamedan to treat a disease in 1928 and stayed there forever. In 1933, after living for 54 years, he was buried next to the tomb of Ibn Sina.