Voices of Afghanistan showcases the little known art music and folklore of Afghanistan. Legendary Afghan songstress Ustad Farida Mahwash commands the center in this 6-piece ensemble under the musical direction of rubâb master Homayoun Sakhi. Now based in California, following a period of exile in Pakistan, these brilliant artists are refugees from decades of conflict. But they retain the heritage of centuries, echoing the peace, harmony and sublime musical traditions of a vanishing past in Afghanistan.
Producer Dawn Elder has made a career of connecting cultures through music. Energized by a newfound passion for Afghan music, Dawn spent two years meeting and listening to Afghan musicians living in the US, and bringing them together in search of the perfect blend. She was introduced to Homayoun Sakhi in 2008, and became entranced by the rich tonality of the rubâb—a double-chambered lute and the ancestor of the Indian sarod—and by Homayoun’s seemingly effortless virtuosity. Homayoun leads his own trio—The Sakhi Ensemble—and is in high demand to perform with celebrity musicians and artists from around the world. He soon became the emerging group’s musical director. Homayoun and Dawn first put together this group at the request of arts consultant Sabrina Motley to be a part of Peter Seller’s 2011 operetta, Winds of Destiny. The emotional apex of this performance came when legendary Afghan vocalist Ustad Farida Mahwash appeared for her first performance on an American stage in nearly 10 years. Dawn had heard Mahwash’s crystalline voice in recordings, but the singer’s elegant stage presence was a revelation. “She brought Afghan music and culture fully to life for me; she reminded me of the late Umm Kulthum,” recalls Dawn.
Mahwash and Dawn shared no language, but the iconic singer’s humble demeanor, delightful smile and laugh, made her appear like a affectionate grandmother. “And,” says Dawn, “I soon realized she was like a mother for all the people of her homeland.” Homayoun and Mahwash proved a dynamic pair, the young lion and the seasoned queen of song. They had never worked together seriously before, but shared a deep mutual respect that more than made up for differences of generation and life experience. “Their organic chemistry and perceptive musical understanding on stage was undeniable,” says Dawn. Now it was about creating the right blend of accompanying musicians, repertoire and production that would complete Voices of Afghanistan.
Homayoun brought the other members of the Sakhi Ensemble—his brother Pervez Sakhi on flute (tula), and Abbos Kosimov on doyra and other frame drums. Abbos is Uzbek, and a natural foil for Homayoun—another innovative virtuoso who has both mastered and dramatically extended his inherited tradition, and who refuses to accept that his instrument knows any limitation. Mahwash introduced fellow vocalist/musician and trusted colleague Khalil Ragheb on harmonium, and she and Homayoun selected Ezmarai Aref as the group’s tabla player. Ezmarai’s grounding in Afghan folk traditions made him the perfect complement to an ensemble dedicated to breathing new life into a lost era of music. From the first time Voices of Afghanistan appeared together in June, 2012, Dawn, knew she had the group she’d been looking for. From there, the ensemble began touring, conducting workshops at schools and universities and making plans for a debut recording.
On October 09, 2012, Voices of Afghanistan performed before 27,000 people at the Dali Lama’s One World concert in Syracuse, New York. This was the largest live audience ever to experience Afghan music, and the group so impressed the event’s sponsor, Sam Nappi, that he invited them to record at his World Harmony Studio, and to co-produce the debut album with Dawn. The result, Love Songs for Humanity, is an expansive work that fills out the ensemble’s finely tuned chemistry with remarkable performances by The Clinton String Quartet, guitar duo Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb, Iraqi violin virtuoso Layth Sidiq, and two guest vocalists, Cheb Yassin of Algeria and Angelique Kidjo of Benin. Angelique Kidjo also performed at the One World concert and, after hearing Voices of Afghanistan’s transcendent performance there, she was eager to participate in this historic recording. Mahwash and Angelique formed a particularly strong bond in Syracuse through their mutual admiration for, and friendship with, the late “Mama Africa,” Miriam Makeba.
Love Songs for Humanity includes popular Afghan ghazals like “Pe Toru Stergo (My black Eyes) with soaring violin and rubâb improvisations, and new musical compositions and arrangement of the beloved Sufi poetry of Asquari and Rumi. The album’s epic opener, “Deedum Negari Khud-Ra (I Saw My Beloved)” interprets Rumi—the greatest Sufi poet of all—and stands as a powerful statement of conscience and artistic courage in the face of a conflict-ridden world. With this album and a growing tour schedule, Voices of Afghanistan are realizing their long held dream—to bring a human face, a soulful voice, and an immeasurably deep heart to the world’s image of Afghanistan.
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Ustad Farida Mahwash (Pictured Left) is the “Voice of Afghanistan,” and one of the most beloved singers in the entire Central Asian region. Her robust, luminous voice with its subtle command of ornamentation has dazzled audiences worldwide, as she shares her country’s rich musical heritage through performances and recordings.
Farida was born into a conservative Afghan family. Her mother was a Quran teacher, who recited with a beautiful voice, and religion loomed large in the girl’s upbringing. For many years, Farida’s interest in music was suppressed as female singers and musicians were viewed with contempt. Upon completing her studies, Farida found support and refuge in a position at the Kabul Radio Station. The station’s director, Ustad Hafiz Ullah Khayal, recognized her extraordinary talent, and bravely encouraged her to pursue singing as a career. It was Ustad Khayal who gave Farida her stage name, Mahwash, which means “like the moon.”
Mahwash then took music and singing lessons under the tutelage of Ustad Mohammad Hashim Chishti. An established maestro, Chishti quickly launched his protégé on a rigorous training regime. Most of his lessons, which are based on North Indian classical music, are still used today to train Afghan singers. Mahwash went on to study with the renowned Afghan singer Ustad Hussain Khan Sarahang, who guided her through her meteoric rise as a radio star. Another master composer, Ustad Shahwali, created many songs for her to sing on the radio. One of the best known was “O Bacha (Oh Boy),” which brings together half a dozen regional songs in one extended modern song cycle. When Mahwash learned this complex piece and recorded it in a single day, she was given the title of Ustad—or “master”—a controversial move as, until that point, this was an honor reserved only for men | Read More |
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Homayoun Sakhi is the most outstanding and innovative Afghan rubâb player of his generation, a virtuoso instrumentalist—and a great singer—endowed with a charismatic musical presence and personality. The rubâb is the national instrument of Afghanistan. Homayoun’s artistry demonstrates how an imaginative musician working within a traditional musical idiom can enrich and expand its expressive power while respecting the taste and sensibility passed down from master musicians of the past. Moreover, Homayoun is musical director The Sakhi Ensemble, which explores the rich classical and folkloric traditions of Afghanistan, and musical Voices Of Afghanistan, a collaboration with legendary Afghan vocalist Ustad Farida Mahwash. Homayoun’s soaring technique, melodic flair and unparalleled style have earned him global acclaim as the maestro on Afghan rubâb.
Homayoun was born in Kabul in 1976 into one of Afghanistan’s leading musical families. From the age of ten, he studied rubâb with his father, Ustad Ghulam Sakhi, in the traditional form of apprenticeship known as ustâd-shâgird (Persian: “master-apprentice”). Ustad Ghulam Sakhi was a disciple and, later, brother-in-law, of Ustâd Mohammad Omar (d. 1980), the much-revered heir to a musical lineage that began in the 1860s, when the ruler of Kabul, Amir Sher Ali Khan, brought classically trained musicians from India to perform at his court. The Amir gave these musicians residences in a section of the old city adjacent to the royal palace so that they could be summoned to court when needed, and this area, Kucheh Kharabat, became the musicians’ quarter of Kabul.
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Abbos Kosimov of Uzbekistan is considered one the most entertaining and explosive players of the Central Asian frame drum called doyra. Uzbekistan and Afghanistan share a great deal of history and culture, including the doyra. Kosimov grew up in a family of musicians in Uzbekistan. He began studying doyra at age ten with To’ychi Inogomov. He mastered the basics quickly, and then began to branch out on his own, leading him in unexpected directions. “I practiced a lot,” Kosimov recalled, “six or seven hours a day. I listened to jazz, drum set players, conga players, djembe players, tabla, and I mixed it all together and put it on doyra.” The doyra is a roughly 2000-year-old instrument, originally played by women and used as an accompaniment to singing. Around 1950, men began to play doyra. The instrument became smaller, and the style and repertoire began to
develop in new ways. But no prior player has come close to Kosimov’s innovations.Inspired by North Indian tabla players, Kosimov worked on his finger tapping technique, perfecting soft and hard strokes, and developing personalized rolls and slaps. He mastered rhythms in different time signatures - 7/8 and 11/8 in addition to the usual 6/8. In 2008, Kosimov was asked to be a guest performer on one of Ustad Zakir Hussain’s Masters of Percussion tours in the. Homayoun Sakhi met Kosimov around this time. Kosimov’s facility with Afghan and Uzbek traditions, as well as North Indian classical music greatly impressed Sakhi. The two masters quickly formed a musical and personal connection and have performed together ever since | Read More |
Khalil Ragheb was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He started playing music when he was nine years old and, when he was 16 years old, began making guest appearances in an “amateur” musical group, playing music on Western instruments. Soon, he was asked to perform with one of the leading Afghan orchestras for Radio Kabul, backing one of the country’s leading vocalists Ahmad Zahir. As Ragheb matured he also began singing, garnering the attention of educators throughout the region with his riveting performances. He was awarded scholarships to study first in Iran, and then Germany. Upon earning residence in the United States, Ragheb moved to Fremont in northern California—an area known to many as Little Kabul. There, Ustad Farida Mahwash invited him to work with her, and he joined The Sakhi Ensemble on harmonium. At the same time, Ragheb established and began hosting a new TV show “Sound and Image of Afghanistan,” which continues today | Read More |
Perviz Sakhi, Homayoun’s brother, plays the tula, an end blown flute played by shepherds in Afghanistan for hundreds of years. Perviz was Born in Kabul in 1983 and, like his brother, he apprenticed with their maestro father Ustad Ghulam and sweet sound.” Many of the most famous tula songs are love songs, typically inspired by the wandering life of the shepherd, who is so often separated from his beloved | Read More |
Ezmarai Aref was born in Kabul, and learned music in the city’s musical quarter, Kharabat. He began studying Afghan percussion from an early age, working with a number of masters, and accompanying numerous singers over the years. He plays the tabla, best known for its use in north Indian classical (Hindustani) music, but also a mainstay in a variety of Afghan traditions. Since moving to the United States’s Little Kabul (Fremont, California), Aref has performed with numerous groups, including Ustad Farida Mahwash, The Sakhi Ensemble and, now, Voices of Afghanistan | Read More |
