Mohammad Rafiq Shinwari ( ps, محمد رفیق شینواری) was a singer and composer of

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 ...

music. Though he also tried his luck with

poetry and wrote a few poems as well but it was his compositions for early

movies that earned him a big name in this field. A disciple of Abdul Sattar Bacha, he was brought to Bacha's abode by his mother as a child in late 1940s from Nangarhar,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Rafiq Shinwari started his career as a

Qawali Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...

singer of Radio

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Studio in 1961. Subsequently he became a household name among the

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

population of both

and

in the 1970s and 1980s. He primarily sang the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

Poetry of

Ameer Hamza Shinwari Ameer Hamza ( ps, امیرحمزه), commonly known as Hamza Baba (), was a prominent Pashto-language poet. His books are taught on master levels in University of Peshawar. At least 5 scholars did their PH.D research thesis on him. He is conside ...

and

Rahman Baba Abdur Rahmān Momand ( ps, عبدالرحمان بابا; 1632–1706) or Rahmān Bābā ( ps, رحمان بابا), was a renowned Pashtun Sufi Dervish and poet from Momand Agency in Peshawar during the Mughal era. He, along with his contemp ...

. Himself a

by heart, Ustad Shinwari used to sing in a rare husky voice, which would leave his audience in a state of trance. As a music director some of his

movies include Orbal, Ehsan, Qaidi, Dameena, Topak Zama Qanoon, Iqrar, Naway Da Yawai Shpai, and Khana Badosh. Out of his two sons, namely, Shaifq and Ghulam Ali, the later committed suicide in 1988 due to unknown reasons. In 2004, the Rafiq Shinwari Ulasi award was established in his honour.

References

Links to some audio and video songs

Frontier Post articlePashto Songs of Rafiq ShinwariSufi Songs of Rafiq Shinwari
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Pashtun people Pakistani people of Afghan descent Pakistani male singers Pashto-language singers People from Nangarhar Province Musicians from Peshawar {{Pakistan-singer-stub