„I have brought your prophets into the world“

Naghma Shaperai is considered the face of traditional Pashtun music. In 1977, she married Mangal, a singer who was already very famous at the time. From the 1970s to the early 1990s, they often performed together.

Later, Naghma settled in Pakistan, where she enjoyed further success and was awarded the country’s Order of Merit, the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz. She now lives in the USA.

Her song “Nawi Engilay Yom” (“I am the new girl”) is from the 1980s: “I am the new girl, we have to overcome the old habits! Out of anger, I break my bracelets that hold me” (in Pashto) 

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If you deal with current music from Afghanistan, you cannot avoid Aryana Sayeed. She left home with her parents at the age of eight and lived in Pakistan, Switzerland and England.

In 2010, she returned to Afghanistan, where she became the country’s most successful female pop star. She has appeared in numerous television shows and was a jury member on the eleventh season of „Afghan Star“.

Sayeed is committed to women’s rights and breaks taboos in her songs. She became the target of hardliners who issued a “fatwa”, a death sentence, against her. In 2021, when the Taliban seized power in the country, she had to flee Afghanistan.

In 2018, she published “Zan Astam” (“I am a woman”): “Where would your Mohammed, Rustam and Suhrab be? I am the one who brought your heroes, your prophets into the world. A woman!” (in Dari) 

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Seeta Qasemie, born in 1983 in Kabul was born in Kabul in 1983 and is one of the best-known Afghan singers. At the age of 15, she moved to Germany, where she now lives with her family.

In “Afghani Sada Kon”, (“Call me Afghan”) Qasemie personifies Afghanistan. The song calls on Afghans to be proud of their country.

“You can call me by the name Bamiyani. You can also call me Laghmani. [...] I am the city of dawn, love and existence [...], call me Afghani.” (2018, in Dari) 

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The singer Khumari worked in a so-called dance house before she became famous with her love ballads. She often performed at weddings and big parties - traditionally an important stage for Afghan singers.

In conservative circles she is known as the “dancer” - she sparked many rumours and gossip about love affairs. But to this day she is admired for her unconventional way of singing and dancing.

In the 1980s, she released the song “Beltoon vs. Khumari” (in Dari): “I see you coming from a distance, laughing you come towards me. As beautiful as you look, I want to draw you on the wall...”

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Farida Mahwash was given the title „Ustad“, meaning „master“ - an honorary title for respected musicians in Indo-Persia. Mahwash is probably the only woman to have the title.

She was born in Kabul in 1947. In 1991, she fled to Pakistan. After receiving death threats, she went into exile in California. Today, Mahwash is a singer with the music project “Voices of Afghanistan”. 

Her song “Awaaze Man” (“My Voice”) was written in the early 1980s in Dari: „He should only listen to her voice for a second, then he will recognise the strength of her love in the sound and the melody.“

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Salma Jahani was born in Kabul in 1952. She became famous with the song „Bia Ke Borem Ba Mazar“ („Come, let's go to Mazar“), which is sung at Nouruz, the Persian New Year and Spring Festival.

The song is still sung in Indo-Persian communities. Today she lives in the USA.

Her song “Ma Bararand Ke Chon Roye Tost” was recorded in the late 1970s. It is about poetry in which a man is praised by a woman in love: “Your face is as beautiful as as the moon.” (Men in chorus:) “No, no, that's not true. Your hair smells beautiful”

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Shuhra Wakili combines Afghan music with a folk touch. She lives in Tajikistan and is signed to a production company there.

There are many cultural overlaps between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, Dari is spoken in both countries.

The song “Tu Bigu” (“You Say”) was originally written by the Tajik singer Nigina Amonkulova: 

“The moonlight of my heart's nights, the sun of my goals. If you are the sea, I am the shore. Oh you voice of my heart. Say you love me, so that I may return, I love you...” (2021, in Dari)

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Khanom Zhila became active in the Afghan music scene at the age of 14. For over forty years she was highly regarded as a singer. Since 1982, Zhila has lived in exile in California.

In her song “Oh Bacha” (“Hey Boy”, 1977 in Dari) she sings about a man who does not seem to pay any attention to her: 

"You shall have eyes full of dreams, you shall be bold with your gorgeous hair, hey boy.”

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Mermon Parwin is the first singer whose voice was broadcast on Afghan radio in 1951. In doing so, she paved the way for other female singers, presenters and newscasters.

In her song “Azadi” (“Freedom”, 1951 in Dari) she addresses the children of Afghanistan. They should enjoy freedom and advance their country.

The song refers to the bank holidays that commemorates Afghanistan’s independence from the British Empire in 1919: 

„My dears, it's the Afghan celebration, come my child, eat grapes [...], my heart celebrates and laughs, come my child, eat grapes.“

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