Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi

Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi (Persian: رحیم معینی کرمانشاهی‎‎, February 6, 1926 – November 17, 2015) was an Iranian poet and lyricist. He is one of the pioneering songwriters in the history of Persian traditional music.^[1]

Biography

Master Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi was born in 1926 in Kermanshah, Iran. He left his hometown at a young age for Tehran to pursue painting, among his famous paintings is the charcoal of Christ blessing the children. His talent and creativity in poetry made him one of the greatest lyricists, poets and historians of Iran. His masterpiece is an eighteen volume history of Iran after Islam in the form of beautiful Persian classical poetry called Shahkar, which contains over 200,000 lines of poetry in about 7800 pages. In 2007 he was honored as Lord of Speech by the National Organization of Iranian poets, musicians, artists, historians, philosophers and literature masters. During his 60 years dedication to Persian literature and poetry he published over 20 books and wrote the lyrics of about 500 songs. His musical works are being remastered every year by various artists in different countries, mostly in Iran and the United States. In 2013, one of his songs, "Ecstacy", was played on Fox production's TV series How I Met Your Mother.

Through his many admirers and friends he was urged to write lyrics for the great classical Persian vocalists of the day. He was very successful as a lyricist working side by side the most talented musicians and performers until the Iranian revolution of 1979. His five hundred plus songs made his fame rise to a level of celebrity in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He also wrote many poetry books for a huge fan base that loves his style which is completely unique. All of his books are among best sellers and continually being re-published. Today he is known as the most celebrated living poet and song writer of Iran.

Personal life and death

He was married Eshrat Atoofi from 1946 to her death on July 5, 2013. Together they had five children. He died on November 17, 2015, at the age of 93 at Jam Hospital in Tehran.^[2]

References