Ustad Awalmir () (May 8, 1931 – April 24, 1982) was an

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

composer, musician, singer, and poet who wrote and sang in the

Pashto language 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 ...

. He began learning music as a teen from various music teachers and began to perform for

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

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 Protected state status. The treaty granted a complete neutral relation bet ...

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. His contribution to Afghan music led him the honor of the title

Ustad Ustad, ustadh, ustaz or ustadz (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ''ustād'') is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages, incl ...

from the

Ministry of Culture and Information The Ministry of Media () is one of the governmental bodies of Saudi Arabia and part of the cabinet. The main function of the ministry is to regulate the media of Saudi Arabia and the communications between Saudi Arabia and other countries. It ...

. His songs include "Da Zamong Zeba Watan", meaning "this is our beautiful homeland", referring to Afghanistan.

References

20th-century Afghan male singers Afghan composers Afghan male musicians Pashtun musicians Pashto-language singers 1931 births 1982 deaths 20th-century composers Pashtun male singers Pashtun poets Pashto-language poets Pashtun composers {{Afghanistan-musician-stub