Mohammad Rauf Ghanbari was born in Gharveh in Sanandaj in 1953. He learn his first music from his father who was a local singer and an interpreter of Masnavi (an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi also known as Rumi). He moved to Tehran in 1974 and went to The Center of Preservation and Expansion of Music to be taught by Hatam Askari. Later on he was taught to read and interpret Masnavi by Ali davar who was called the father of reading and interpreting Masnavi in Iran. He went on learning how to perform radif.
Mohammad Rauf Ghanbari met Maestro Rajabali Amiri Falah in 1989 and learnt singing techniques and mixing poetry and music from him. He learnt a lot from him. Many believe that he is the best student of Maestro Amiri. He learnt a lot of delicate points from Mahadi Kamalian.
Mohammad Rauf Ghanbari is one of the few singers who has his own style, not an imitated on, which is close to that of ancient Iranian singers.