(b Kabul, 1923; d Kabul, 1982). Afghan singer and composer. His father, Ustād Ghulām Husein, recognized early signs of an extraordinary musical talent and sent his son to Delhi at the age of nine to study with Ustād Asheq Ali Khān, an important exponent of the Patiala gharānā. The boy remained in Delhi for 16 years, studying music in circumstances of considerable poverty. He returned to Kabul in 1949. In the following year King Zāhir Shāh awarded him the title Sarāhang (which roughly translates as ‘top melody’) in recognition of his superiority over all other Afghan singers in the Hindustani styles of thumrī and khayāl. Sarāhang was regularly invited to give concerts of classical music in India. He was also awarded a number of honorary degrees and titles there, such as Kuhi bolandi-e musīqī (‘high mountain of music’), Baba-e musīqī (‘father of music’) and Sar tāj-e musīqī (‘crown of music’). Afghans were inordinately proud of his reputation in India.
As well as being Afghanistan's foremost performer of Hindustani music, Sarāhang was celebrated as a ghazal singer. Aware that many of Kabul's ghazal singers often made textual errors, he made a point of studying poetry with Ustād Abdul Hamīd Asīr and became a great authority on the poetry of Bedil. He performed regularly on Radio Afghanistan and had a special weekly radio programme on classical music (1977–9). Having a rather independent personality, Sarāhang refused all entreaties to become an official court singer for Zāhir Shāh.
ABDUL-WAHAB MADADI (with JOHN BAILY)