Farhad Darya’s Melbourne concert of folk, pop and ghazal packs a punch
His fans had waited over a decade for his return, and when the dates of his comeback tour were announced on social media and Afghan TV channels, his Australian fans went wild.
And finally, on 25 September, acclaimed Afghan singer Farhad Darya took the Melbourne stage by storm, keeping the excitement alive all through the concert and for days after. The tour was as expected a huge success, and is being touted as one of the biggest Australian tours by an Afghan artiste. The concert even had a surprise special appearance by Afghan artiste Daud Sarkhosh, and the two singers performed together, recreating old times.
Singer, composer, and activist Farhad is one of the most influential musicians in Afghanistan since the mid-80s. He is known as the country’s most prominent voice and has been showing the soul of Afghanistan through his music.
The singer-songwriter plays an engaging blend of folk, pop, ghazal and classical, a combination that not everyone can pull off, but Farhad has the writing talent, star personality and perfect bag full of true stories which all fits together perfectly in the industry. He has written and sung an excellent selection of songs in various languages including Farsi-Dari, Pashto, Uzbek, Hazaragi, Urdu and English, for himself and many other Afghan artistes.
In the 80s, Farhad formed “Goroh-e-Baran” (The Rain Band), a highly successful band with three other university students, and broke boundaries in Afghan music. Baran turned out to be the most successful Afghan bands in the country’s music history.
His deep love and patriotism for his beloved homeland has earned him millions of fans not just in Afghanistan but in some parts of Central Asia, and Tajikistan.
His contribution towards the industry and country has earned him numerous national and international awards including a Human Rights Award by the Commission of Human Rights in 2006, and a Peace Ambassador prize from Austria in 2014.
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