Ari Honarvar was born in Shiraz, Iran. The Iran-Iraq war formed the background for her childhood. Coming from a family which strongly carried the legacies of Persian poets such as Rumi and Hafez, she has been drawn to share that artistic and spiritual wealth here in the USA which has been her home since age 14.
Her productions of A Thousand Faces of Love feature the poetry of Rumi. She presents a dynamic program including poems in Farsi and English in the form of Rumi stories, dance and the stories of Ari’s own encounters with the soul-saving power of poetry growing up during the Iran-Iraq War.
She has recently joined Musical Ambassadors of Peace to help build poetic and musical bridges across war torn borders. During much of 2019 she has been traveling to the refugee shelters in Tijuana just south of the US border several times a month to spend the day with refugees from the drug-cartel-ruled war zones further south in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. She has been bringing musicians to help provide stress relief and healing from the wounds of war in the form of Mexican and Central American music, drumming and dance.
Ari has been invited and continues to speak at various functions. She has presented at various universities, peace events and veterans groups. Her work has been featured on NPR, TV, Elephant Journal, The Nation, Yes Magazine, Parents Magazine, Huffington Post, The Young Turks, Voice of San Diego, Evolve and through many other news outlets.
To get an idea of the depth and breadth of Ari’s reach as a writer go to her Parents Magazine Article and follow the included links!
Washington Post Article Title:
Make America Walk Again
Last year, when hundreds of Syrian refugees came to San Diego,
my community wanted to help. My family, friends, and neighbors
donated money, supplies, and time to help with this transition. As
happy as I was with the outpouring of support, I wanted to reach out
to my staunchly anti-immigration neighbor, but wasn’t quite sure
how. I’d seen both sweetness and trauma on the faces of refugee
kids, and was wondering how my neighbor would respond to this. So one day I
asked him to help me deliver a piece of furniture to a family who was struggling.
Ari Honarvar
Musical Ambassador
Iran
Our Musical Ambassador Ari Honarvar is from Iran… she knows some things which the rest of us don’t: parents who send their children off on their own to seek better lives are not necessarily being “bad parents!”
The Central American parents who are sending their children to take a chance at making it across the border are doing so as an act of deep love!
Ari’s parents were not being bad when they sent her on her way alone from Iran and then India to follow an opportunity to escape the new hardline religious regime in their home country.
They were being GOOD PARENTS and their efforts paid off!
US citizens are not always aware of the tremendous efforts and leaps of faith sometimes required to save the children…
Ari knows about that. She made it all the way from Iran to India to a Texas entry point and finally found a place where her life can flower… Her mother managed to accompany her to India but from there Ari made the journey alone at the age of 14. Her parent’s efforts paid off… Yes, it was a gamble but it was a bet which yielded a happy ending!
September 2017: Ari begins coordinating regular healing drumming sessions with Syrian, Iraqi and Afghani refugees now arriving in El Cajon, CA.