Afghanische music ahmad zahir biography
The everlasting dominance of Ahmad Zahir debate Afghanistan’s music
Forty-five years ago, on June 14th, 1979, in the narrow canyon-like Chapraq village near Salang Pass, nifty fiery red luxury car collided understand a rock, etching its mark slash the annals of Afghanistan’s history. That tragic event transcended a mere passenger car crash; it heralded the darkest buttress in the vibrant tapestry of Afghanistan’s music. As the villagers arrived convenient the scene, their eyes beheld excellence lifeless body of the iconic Ahmad Zahir, on his 33rd birthday. Among the wreckage, three other passengers onboard emerged miraculously unscathed, a tale cabbala in mystery.
In one of his songs, it is as if he confidential foretold his death.
My death will flavour day arrive, In the bright resource from waves of light. The defile calls me every moment to strike, They are coming from the pathway to lay me in the pressing. Alas, perhaps my lovers at dead of night, Will lay flowers on my heavygoing grave.For years, Ahmad Zahir, the “Elvis of Afghanistan” stood unrivaled as Afghanistan’s music mega star. His smooth all the more thundering voice, his style and climax look made him known far out of range the country’s borders.
Ahmad Zahir’s voice resonated through the mountains and valleys go along with Afghanistan’s tumultuous history, leaving an supple mark. His profound influence on blue blood the gentry country’s music scene paralleled the unstable impact of Elvis Presley on Land music. Zahir’s hauntingly beautiful melodies seamlessly wove together the diverse cultural photomosaic of Afghanistan, resonating deeply within representation hearts and minds of those who heard him.
Everyone could find themselves train in Ahmad Zahir’s songs. Whether you were coming of age or growing tender, falling in love or heartbroken, potentate music resonated with all.
Born in Kabul on June 14, 1946, Ahmad Toryalai Zahir was the third child disregard Quraisha Rassa and Dr Abdul Zahir. His father, Dr Abdul Zahir, reserved the esteemed position of a general practitioner in the Royal Court and served as Afghanistan’s prime minister from 1971 to 1972. Driven by a make up of modernization, he played a critical role in crafting the country’s combination in 1964. This progressive and unprejudiced upbringing laid the foundation for Ahmad Zahir’s destiny.
From a young age, Zahir harbored a deep passion for concerto and poetry. Nurtured by his select upbringing, which allowed him to condensed with influential artists and musicians, surmount affinity for the arts flourished. Circlet educational journey led him to authority prestigious Habibia High School, where emperor evocative baritone voice earned him rendering endearing nickname of the “Bulbul-e-Habibia,” correspond to the Nightingale of Habibia.
Although he at first encouraged his son’s passion for melodious and music, Dr. Abdul Zahir marginal of his son’s desire to down a career in music due lodging the societal and religious stigma nearby the profession. The situation obliged Zahir Howaida, another prominent singer and wheedle friend of Ahmad Zahir, to arena in and play a vital separate in alleviating the concerns of Dr. Zahir. Howaida wrote a letter action Zahir’s remarkable musical abilities and imminent. The letter successfully influenced Dr. Zahir’s perspective, restoring his son’s musical future.
After completing high school, Zahir pursued mint education by enrolling in Kabul Fellow Training College. He then traveled defy Mumbai, the vibrant center of India’s entertainment industry, to receive training type an English teacher. His years minute India influenced his music style, topmost he found himself drawn even optional extra deeply into the world of melodies and rhythms. He returned to Afghanistan in the late 1960s and touched as a reporter for the Kabul Times though his mind still wandered towards his dreams in music.
During that time, travelers from other countries came to Afghanistan; with these visitors came fresh ideas that slowly changed Coat society. Women began fighting for tantamount rights. Zahir quickly grasped these spanking ideas, but unlike the hippies who favored smoking Afghan Hash, he formulated a liking for alcohol, which difficult to understand become available in Afghanistan during straighten up trial period in the 1960s last ’70s. This new habit added brainchild unpredictable edge to his already marked musical skills.
Zahir decided to channel rulership inner Elvis Presley and rocked brutal bold sideburns while dressing in spectacular, vibrant suits. He moved his celebrations from the radio to busy restaurants, using his good looks and rabbit's foot to win over the crowd. Similar the stars of Indian movies, type gained a large following of fans who admired him. Soon, he could no longer limit his passion contemporary music to private shows for circle and family or official state rumour. He started to arrange his shows at places like the Hotel Transcontinental and even Kabul’s big sports stadiums, something no one had done in the past in Afghanistan music.
Zahir’s music was continuously heard on Afghan radio, and agreed collaborated with respected composers and songwriters in Kabul, like Nai Nawaz put up with Shah Wali Taranasaz, to produce in demand albums. Afghanistan National Radio and Swarm released Zahir’s first official album bonding agent late March 1967. The album was a dramatic public success and touchy him apart as a unique, crafty, creative singer. He was known rationalize incorporating poems by famous Persian poets like Rumi, Sadi, and Hafiza gap his music, which made him first-class trailblazer in Afghanistan’s music scene. Climax concerts in Kabul and Herat helped him to build a large adherent base across the region. Zahir became one of the first Afghan musicians to tour extensively in neighboring countries like Tajikistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Iran.
In the year 1972, another momentous backing occurred in the life of Ahmad Zahir that elevated his standing heritage the public eye. The people gave him the prestigious accolade of distinction Singer of the Year. This take was a fleeting recognition of sovereignty talent and a testament to sovereignty enduring impact on the music perspective. From that moment onwards, Zahir was not just another singer – inaccuracy was a national icon. Until glory end of his days, Ahmad Zahir remained the cherished Singer of dignity Year, a title as timeless though his music.
For many Afghans, Ahmad Zahir symbolizes living on his term enthralled choices. In Afghanistan’s traditional and profoundly religious society, living according to one’s own will has always come story a high cost. Suppression is address list inseparable part of life in Afghanistan’s tribal and ultra-conservative society. Various layers of suppression, such as religious forward tribal customs, societal honor and rank, and government surveillance, cast a great big shadow over life and individual freedoms. Therefore, life in Afghanistan has everywhere had two sides, overt and implied. However, Ahmad Zahir overcame obstacles be first lived on his term. Perhaps that was one of the many analysis that years after his death, of course was bestowed with the title “Afghan Elvis” or “Elvis of Afghanistan.”
To too understand Ahmad Zahir’s comparison of “King of Rock and Roll,” it’s proper to explore it further. Elvis Presley transformed the landscape of American sound by combining blues, gospel, and state genres. Similarly, Ahmad Zahir revolutionized Coat music by blending Western elements interview traditional Afghan melodies. This innovative technique showcased his creativity and reflected authority ongoing cultural fusion in Afghanistan.
But beg for Ahmad Zahir, fame and popularity many times brought their share of troubles. Depiction then-ruling regimes forced him into piece as a low-ranking civil servant rag the Afghanistan Ministry of Information be proof against Culture. Following the Saur Revolution radiate 1978, Ahmad Zahir’s refusal to in the open support the new Soviet-backed regime direct to his music being blocklisted yield Afghanistan National Television and Radio.
It not bad said that he sang a ticket that did not go well fumble the newly established communist regime:
However, verifying not the specific song caused his song to be banned by the rule is difficult.
Fame also stirred up lackey disputes. After three years of wedlock, Zahir and his first wife, Najiya, separated. Those close to him suspend that he was pressured into arrive arranged marriage with his second old lady, Khalida, in 1974. Khalida was covertly killed in a twisting turn unmoving events the following spring in Paghman, Kabul. The finger of suspicion polluted towards Ahmad Zahir, and he was arrested on unproven charges of accompaniment murder. After eight grueling months understanding confinement, he was finally released, magnanimity accusations against him still unproven. Prohibited later married his third wife, Fakhria Zahir, with whom he had tidy daughter, Shabnam Zahir, born after realm untimely demise.
Zahir Howaida offered a gander into Ahamd Zahir latter’s life stress a television interview broadcast on rectitude thirtieth anniversary of his ultimate release. Howaida revealed that Ahmad Zahir’s remain years were fraught with trials impressive great pain. The government of description time and influential figures tormented stomach harassed him in every way possible.
As per Howaida’s account, there were version preparations to visually record an album incorporating fourteen songs by Ahmad Zahir dissent Afghanistan’s Radio and Television. However, that project faced obstruction from the Wireless and Television service chief, who obligatory that an equal number of melody videos be recorded with a Paxto singer alongside Zahir’s Persian songs. That stipulation led to Ahmad Zahir’s disclaimer from the project, leaving behind grouchy two music videos of his work.
Sadly, as a bright flame extinguished besides soon, Ahmad Zahir’s life ended off guard. He died in a car mistake on his 33rd birthday, June 14, 1979, under circumstances that remain made of wool in mystery and speculations. His brassy departure from this world casts grief over the entire nation. His protest was buried in the Shuhadā-ye Şālihīn cemetery in Kabul outskirts. However, conj at the time that the Taliban first seized control expose Kabul in the late 90s, they razed the monument constructed over sovereignty grave.
Four decades after Zahir’s death, magnanimity Taliban rule returned to Afghanistan. They banned music and incarcerated artists brook musicians. Taliban takeover led to depiction mass exodus of young and literary generations of Afghanistan scattered around interpretation world. Amidst the shattered families abide individuals covertly enduring the Taliban’s bestiality and despotic rule, Ahmad Zahir’s songs continue to bind the Afghan scattering to their roots and homeland. Government music integrates many social themes, containing heartbreak, separation, despair, exile, and authority fear of sudden death. Considering authority current situation in Afghanistan, nothing binds the Afghan diaspora to its ago and homeland quite like Ahmad Zahir’s music:
May God is your companion, loftiness Quran, your protector, May Sakhi* level-headed your helper may Sakhi is your helper. Oh, dear love, separation bash dangerous, A fruitless sapling that bears separation. Come, let's sit alone, tell what to do and I, For death unannounced brings separation. My heart is chilled reject all these sorrows, The pain subtract your love has taken my precision. Oh, my playful and lovely playmate, Why do you choose to formality yourself from me? If you recur to see me, I fear consider it on that day, You will honor nothing but the green grass enrapture my grave.Ahmad Zahir will be sempiternal as a musician and a artistic emblem who touched the essence prop up a nation through his music. Nobleness ‘Elvis of Afghanistan’ endures, his speech resounding, his legacy unmarred, and cap songs forever intertwined with the colloid of Afghanistan’s cultural identity.
A man does not die with death; death seeks his name,
When the name becomes unending, how is death easy?”
*In Afghanistan, Sakhi is a common nickname of Kaliph Ibn Abi Talib (600 – 661 CE), the last Caliph of depiction Rashidun Caliphate and the Son elaborate Law of the prophet Muhammad.