Ustad Awalmir ( ps, استاد اولمیر) (May 8, 1931 – April 24, 1982) was an
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 ...
composer, musician, singer, and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
who wrote and sang in the
Pashto language
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 langua ...
.
He began learning music as a teen from various music teachers and began to perform for
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
broadcasts. His first song was ''My Heart Has Broken To Pieces''. At the age of 18, he performed at the
Afghan Independence Day
Afghan Independence Day is celebrated as a national holiday in Afghanistan on 19 August to commemorate the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 and relinquishment from British protectorate status. The treaty granted a complete neutral relation betwee ...
in Kabul.
He made a breakthrough into performing on the
Afghan radio station with help from
Malang Jan, a local poet. Awalmir's output consists of over 250 songs as well as a collection of self-composed songs. His contribution to Afghan music led him the honor of the title
Ustad
Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian, , Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marat ...
from the
Ministry of Culture and Information.
His love and patriotism for Afghanistan is demonstrated in songs such as the famous "Da Zamong Zeba Watan", meaning "this is our beautiful homeland", referring to Afghanistan.
References
20th-century Afghan male singers
Afghan composers
Pashtun people
Pashto-language singers
1931 births
1982 deaths
20th-century composers
{{Afghanistan-musician-stub