Qamar was born in Takestan, a city in Iran. Her father died before she was born, and after her mother’s death from typhoid fever when she was one and a half years old, she was raised by her grandmother, rowzeh-khân (singer of soaz) at the darbar of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, Mollâ Khayr-ol-Nesâ’ Eftekhâr-ol-Zâkerin (the latter name was bestowed on her by the king, meaning “Glory of the Narrators”).