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In the final years of the nineteen seventies, one of the world’s
greatest pop stars passed away. Today, he is remembered lovingly
by legions of fans the world over. While living, he had sideburns
like tangled briars, and a quiff like a brylecream tidal wave.
It is said that his unique style forever revolutionised music.
So strong was the influence he wielded, in fact, that even today
people still flock to his grave as pilgrims. He was Ahmad Zahir
– the Elvis Presley of Afghanistan.
Ahmad Zahir was the son of Doctor Abdul Zahir, a man who at one
point was Prime Minister of Afghanistan. His family members were
well-educated, well-connected and cosmopolitan. They were not,
however, musical. When Ahmad Zahir decided, as a teenager, to
become a musician, it was a difficult and controversial choice.
Traditionally, Persian (Ahmad’s adopted tongue) doesn’t
even contain a word for music or musician, let alone pop star.
In traditional Afghan society, music came under a broad category
of ‘passionate activities’, which could also include
wrestling, horseracing and quail fighting.
Ahmad knew from an early age, however, that he wanted to devote
his life to ‘passionate activities’. Remarkably, he
may be the only pop star to rise to national fame after performing
at a high school concert. After his performance at Habibia High,
his fame was such that when he walked through Kabul’s main
bazaar with his ex-Prime Minister father, more people recognised
the fifteen year old “Nightingale of Habibia” than
the former leader of the nation. From then on, his fame and success
were all but guaranteed.
During his late teens and early twenties, Ahmad traveled widely
through India, Iran, and Soviet Central Asia. In his travels he
developed the diverse, cosmopolitan style that was to be his hallmark.
He was the first musician in Afghanistan to successfully incorporate
Western musical instruments, such as the saxophone, into his arrangements.
He also included instruments from closer to home, such as the
Indian tabla.
His unique reorganising of the musical landscape of Afghanistan
proved immensely popular. In the 18 years of his career, Ahmad
released 22 albums. He toured incessantly and was heard almost
constantly on Radio Afghanistan. He was highly regarded as both
a revivalist of dying traditions, and an innovator of a new modern
style. The Afghan public lionised him as a champion of the poor
and an opponent of tyranny. When he died in a car accident in
1979, many people believed that he had actually been assassinated
by the newly established Communist regime, which he openly opposed.
Since the downfall of the Taliban and the lifting of restrictions
on music, Ahmad Zahir has come to be a significant feature in
the life of Afghanis – in Afghanistan and around the world.
As Omar from AfghanForums.com explained to me: “listening
to Ahmad Zahir's music is one of the best ways to refresh old
memories into our war-wrecked hearts and minds.” After being
destroyed by the Taliban, Ahmad Zahir’s tomb has been rebuilt
on the outskirts of Kabul, and is attracting an increasing number
of pilgrims from all over the country. His music is on sale in
cassette shops again, and his filmclips are dominating Afghanistan’s
TV screens once more. A new generation of people in Afghanistan
are discovering (and covering) Ahmad’s music, and his continued
place in the collective memory of the people of Afghanistan seems
ensured. Gerald Roche
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