The following account explores Vaziri’s life in detail: his childhood and family background, his education in Iran and Europe, his military career, his pioneering contributions to Iranian music, his writings, his controversies, and ultimately his enduring legacy.
Childhood and Family Background
Alinaghi Vaziri was born in Tehran in 1305 AH (1886/87 CE) into a distinguished family of military and intellectual lineage. His father, Musa Khan Vaziri, also known as Musa Khan Mirpanj, was a brigadier general in the Qazaq Khaneh (Persian Cossack Brigade). His mother, Bibi Khanum Astarabadi, was a pioneering feminist and intellectual, remembered as the founder of Madraseh-ye Doshizgan, the first girls’ school in Tehran. Her efforts to promote women’s education made her one of the most remarkable women of the late Qajar period.
The combination of a military father and an intellectual mother created a unique environment for young Alinaghi. From his father he inherited discipline, patriotism, and familiarity with the structured world of the army; from his mother he absorbed cultural curiosity, creativity, and perhaps an early sensitivity to social reform.
Vaziri grew up with four brothers — Hassan Ali, Ali Asghar, Ali Reza, and Fath Ali — and three sisters — Mouloud, Khadija, and Maryam. His younger sister Maryam later married Gholam Hossein Banan, one of the most celebrated Iranian singers of the twentieth century. Music was thus a constant presence in his extended family. His uncle, Hossein Ali Khan, was a skilled tar player, and his mother herself played the tombak.
