Ustad Munawar
Ustad Munawar is remembered in Pashto sources as a namatu sandarghāray — a renowned singer — from Kunar province. The family is from Kuz Kunar, and his repertoire, like the recordings gathered here, is Pashto: love songs and majlisi material rather than the Kabul classical tradition. Almost everything that survives in writing about him comes through his children. His son Rezwan Munawar, born in the mid-1960s in Kuz Kunar, became a singer too: he taught at the Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan lycée, recorded some eighty songs for Afghan radio and television, and after leaving for Pakistan in 1993 founded a voluntary association of Afghan singers there. Pashto sources describe Rezwan as the third of Ustad Munawar's sons, while counting him the principal musical heir. The honorific ustad was not given lightly, and that his son's biography opens by naming him says something about the standing he had. Of his own life we have found no record at all — not his birth, not his training, not whether he is still living — and we would be glad of one.
26 songs on Sandar, including 16 with video. Stream them free, or go ad-free with Plus.
Songs by Ustad Munawar
- Da Za Raswa Kram Cha
- Kala Pa Khobki
- Kala Pokhlawe
- Kawa Da Khpal Watan
- Ka Zanawe Ashq Ba
- Khwaga Mina Shawa
- Sta Da Dedan Arzomand
- Wa Za Sta Pamine
- Za Jaram Babo Khande
- Zara Kho Haga Zarade
Music videos
- Allah Noor
- Bia Hagha
- Chi Kala Khoob Ki Nasaapi Bashra
- Classic Pashto Song
- Dere Majlese
- Di Ookhko Saylab
- Domra Zalmoona Sook Pa Cha
- Gula Jan
- Janana Raasha Kawa Sailoona
- Lewanay Meene
- Majlisi
- Ma Wolede
- Muhabat
- Old Pashto Song
- Waswama Sta Mene
- Za Zhalom Babo Khandi