Ahmad Zahir Named One of NPR’s 50 Greatest Voices
Iconic Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir has been named one of NPR’s 50 Greatest Voices.
Zahir, who famously mixed elements of Western Rock and Roll with traditional Afghan instruments and the poetry of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī is dubbed ‘The Voice of The Golden Years‘ for the memories attached to his music by millions of Afghans the world over.
Zahir, whose resemblance to Elvis Presley may very well be more than just physical, is seen as the voice of a time gone by in Afghanistan. Like Presley, Ahmad Zahir’s embrace of Western styles and frank lyrics about love were met with controversy among more conservative circles in Afghanistan. Unlike Presley who appropriated Black music and made it safer for White consumption, Zahir used the music he wrote to express the desires and emotions all Afghans were afraid to state publicly.
However, it is with his Iranian contemporary, Googoosh, that Zahir has the most in common. Both Ahmad Zahir and Googoosh have become legends whose music and the memories they evoke have come to symbolize the spirit and hopes of the people of both nations. Like Jamaica’s Bob Marley, the music of Googoosh and Ahmad Zahir have come to be representative of the spirits of the Afghan and Iranian people. Spirits of love, hope, and above all, resilience.
Through their music, Bob Marley, Googoosh, and Ahmad Zahir each posed threats to the establishment of their tumultuous times becoming the voice of the masses in their nations in the process. For Marley it was his political lyrics and populist attitudes. For Zahir it was the frankness of his lyrics coupled with the adaptation of Western musical elements, and later the political nature of his own lyrics. For Googoosh it was merely being a beautiful woman singing about the highs and lows of love. Thus, no matter the subject matter of their art, the iconography of all three artists have forever become politicized.
It seems fitting that both Googoosh and Ahmad Zahir are known for their mixture of Western aesthetics and musical styles with the classical poetry of the world‘sbest selling poet, who just happens to be Persian from an ancient city in Afghanistan where Greek and Persian culture came to a crossroads.
In fact, it could be said that the Afghanistan and Iran the people of both nations are hoping for the return of, are the ones where the voices of both artists can once again be freely heard throughout the nation on the radio, television, and the mouths of the people:
“For better or for worse, he is the symbol of an Afghanistan that nobody thinks is going to come back in their lifetime,” Tarzi says. “He is the symbol of the good old days.”
Ahmad Zahir: The Voice Of The Golden Years [NPR]