Fazel Ahmad Zekrya (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī � ...

: ; 1935–1979), known professionally as Nainawaz (

: ) (or Ustad Nainawaz) was a renowned

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

artist, poet and composer. He has composed some of the most iconic pieces in Afghan popular music.

Background

Nainawaz was one of the nine sons of a well known politician, poet, writer Sardar Haji Faiz Muhammad Khan Zikeria from the

Barakzai Bārakzai ( ps, بارکزی, ''Bārakzay;'' plur. ps, بارکزي, ''Bārakzī'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day, Kandahar, Afghanistan. '"Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns and it means "son of Barak" in Pashto. A ...

ruling family. He was born in the Yakatoot district of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. Nainwaz attended the elite

Lycée Esteqlal In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

in Kabul. In his early teens, he taught himself how to play the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

. He also wrote poems and composed melodies. His adopted stage name "Nainawaz" means

Ney The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...

(an

End-blown flute The end-blown flute (also called an edge-blown flute or rim-blown flute) is a woodwind instrument played by directing an airstream against the sharp edge of the upper end of a tube. Unlike a recorder or tin whistle, there is not a ducted flue v ...

) player in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Nainwaz graduated from

Kabul University Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...

, Law and Political Faculty. Nainawaz has one son, Amir Khusru Nainawaz, and one daughter Sahar Khanum, married in 1985 to Ehsan Aman a famous singer from

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces (, '' wilåyat''). The provinces of Afghanistan are the primar ...

Career

Nainawaz is credited with adding modern pop elements to Afghan music. He produced countless hit compositions sung by many renowned Afghan artists such as the

Ahmad Zahir Ahmad Zahir (Dari/Pashto: ; 14 June 1946 – 14 June 1979) was an Afghan singer, songwriter and composer. Dubbed the "Elvis of Afghanistan", he is widely considered the all-time greatest singer of Afghanistan. The majority of his songs were sung ...

Ahmad Wali Ahmad Wali (Pashto/Dari: ) is an Afghan Ghazal singer. He began his career in the 1970s, becoming popular in his native country before he was forced to flee by political upheaval in Afghanistan. He continued his work after resettling in German ...

Mahwash Ustad Farida Mahwash ( fa, استاد فریده مهوش); (1947) is an Afghan singer and voice of Afghanistan. She was the first woman (as of 2013) to have been conferred the title of honor, honorary title of "Ustad" (meaning Master or Maes ...

, Sarban,

Awalmir Ustad Awalmir ( ps, استاد اولمیر) (May 8, 1931 – April 24, 1982) was an Afghan composer, musician, singer, and poet who wrote and sang in the Pashto language. He began learning music as a teen from various music teachers and began t ...

, and many others. Many of his compositions have a

Mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

quality and are set to poems by

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

Hafez Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...

, and Lahuti. Nainawaz was a mentor and teacher to

, the well-known Afghan singer.

Death

Nainawaz took part in the

Bala Hissar uprising Bala may refer to: Places India * Bala, India, a village in Allahabad, India * Bala, Ahor, a village in the Jalore district of Rajasthan * Bala, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India Romania * Bala, Mehedinți, a commune in Mehedinţ ...

against the

Khalq Khalq ( ps, خلق, ) was a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Its historical ''de facto'' leaders were Nur Muhammad Taraki (1967–1979), Hafizullah Amin (1979) and Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoy (1979–1990). It was also ...

communist regime as a part of the Revolutionary Group of the Peoples of Afghanistan in 1979. He was arrested and executed by the

regime.

References and footnotes

1979 deaths 20th-century Afghan male singers Pashtun singers 1935 births {{Afghanistan-stub