Ahmad Wali (

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

: ) is an Afghan

Ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

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 Germany, performing throughout Europe and North America.

Background

Ahmad Wali was born in

Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

to an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

family belonging to the

Mohammadzai Mohammadzai (), also spelled Moḥammadzay (meaning "descendants of Mohammad"), is a Pashtun sub-tribe or clan of the Barakzai which is part of the Durrani confederacy of tribes. They are primarily centered on Kandahar, Kabul and Ghazni in Af ...

tribe. His father, Mohammad Akram Nawabi, was a former police commander who served in various provinces across Afghanistan. He began exploring music as a

Tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

player at the age of 12, gradually expanding into singing. While a student at Habibia High School, he recorded a

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

which came to the attention of Radio Kabul director and famous Afghan singer Ustad Zaland. Soon afterward, Ahmad Wali performed two other songs: "Chashman–e–Abee," a piece composed by Zaland, and "Mah-ruye-tu" a song composed by Wali himself. Wali performed live throughout Afghanistan until after his high school graduation when he joined an international musical performance in Iran.

Career

At the early stages of his career, Wali had not yet committed to life as a professional musician, and enrolled in the Kabul Police Academy. He continued performing and soon committed to a career in music, being taken as a student by Ustad Zaland. He developed a following throughout Afghanistan, with frequent appearances on national television and radio programs, as well as live performances. After the

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution (; ), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew President of Afghan ...

of 1978, life in Afghanistan became difficult, and in 1980, shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, Wali—then a well-known musician in his homeland—fled the country with a forged passport. Wali's forged passport got him as far as India, where he obtained a visa to Germany by faking an illness. In 1984 and 1985 Wali's concerts in Germany, France, Switzerland, England, and Sweden helped raise funds in support of Afghan refugees displaced by the Soviet-Afghan conflict. During the same years, he also held a joint fundraising concert with German singer

Peter Maffay Peter Alexander Makkay (born 30 August 1949), known as Peter Maffay (), is a Romanian-born German musician, singer, and composer. Being a veteran musician, he is often credited for motivating audiences with his emotional lyrics and powerful mel ...

. In 1987, Wali performed a series of benefit concerts with Abdullah Atemadi and Ensemble in New York, California, and Virginia. On 18 August 2005, Wali performed at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington D.C., to celebrate Afghanistan's National Independence Day. On October 19th, 2024, Wali received the covete
Lifetime Achievement Award
at th
3rd Annual Tuti Gala
a
San Jose Civic
in San Jose, California. This award is presented b
Tuti Media
honoring artists who have made significant contributions to the cultural heritage of Afghanistan and the region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wali, Ahmad Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Afghan ghazal singers 20th-century Afghan male singers Afghan emigrants to Germany Pashtun male singers Entertainers from Kabul Male ghazal singers