tabla instrument 

Tabla is a pair of drums.  It consists of of a small right hand drum called dayan and a larger metal one called bayan.

The tabla has an interesting construction.  The dayan (right hand drum) is almost always made of wood.  The diameter at the membrane may run from just under five inches to over six inches.  The bayan(left hand drum) may be made of iron, aluminium, copper, steel, or clay; yet brass with a nickel or chrome plate is the most common material.  Undoubtedly the most striking characteristic of the tabla is the large black spot on each of the playing surfaces.  These black spots are a mixture of gum, soot, and iron filings.  Their function is to create the bell-like timbre that is characteristic of the instrument.

Although the origin of tabla is somewhat obscure, it is generally belived that it evolved from the barrel shaped drum called pakhawaj.  This was about three hundred years ago.

                                                            ahmad wali 

www.afghan123.com

Ahmad Wali (Pashto/Persian: احمد ولی) is a popular Ghazal singer from Afghanistan. He now resides in USA, having emigrated from Afghanistan to Germany and then subsequently to the Americas due to the political turmoil of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. He is one of the celebrities of Afghanistan's Golden Years of music that lasted until the late 1980s. A singer whose popularity has endured for over three decades, he is considered an icon of Afghanistan's music industry.

                                                             biography

Ahmad Wali was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, as son of Mohammad Akram Nawabi, a former Police Commander who served in various provinces of Afghanistan. He is said to have grown up in an influential family around strict discipline. According to his official website, he is reported to have developed an interest in music, and particularly in singing, early on. He learned to play the Tabla (hand drums) at twelve years of age, before the renowned Master player of Tabla Ustad Mohammad Hashim. Emerging from the background figure of a Tabla player, he eventually took the spotlight to start singing. First shadowing other commanding singers in events, he established a position for himself over time. He eventually recorded an audio tape of his live recordings which was presented to Ustad Zaland, a prominent director of Kabul Radio Station.
His encounter with Zaland proved fruitful as the legendary singer took the young singer under his wings. He composed a song for Ahmad Wali titled Chashman –e –Abee and this song coupled with Mah-ruye-tu (composed by A. Wali himself) immediately shot the singer to fame. This was when he was still attending the Habibia High School.
As was the practice in Afghanistan at the time, new talents were expected to immediately start performing live after their initial recordings to solidify their fame and gain mass popularity. Ahmad Wali’s first performance was held on the occasion of Mother’s Day on which day he sang the newly composed Ma Qurban-e-Saru-Paye-tu-Meshum Madar-e-man. A performance applauded, he immediately became a household name as the range of his voice and confidence coupled with his looks completely stunned Afghanistan. That year, he won the “Singer of the Year” award. He continues to be one of the top singers of all times.


                                                         personal life

Ahmad Wali, on numerous occasions in the late 70s, had been linked to his fellow singer Hangama. The two recorded several songs together, and the attributed romantic chemistry of their music videos was a constant topic in the press. Neither of them admitted or denied any involvement beyond professional level when interviewed. But when the two left the country and met up in Germany again, they married. However, both Ahmad Wali and Hangama do not talk about their marriage or their subsequent divorce, the details of which are not elaborate written material.
However, Ahmad Wali has been re-married after divorcing Hangama and lives in California with his wife Zarmina. He has a son named Massieh from his first marriage who lives in Toronto, Canada with Hangama.

                                                          afghan music

The Music of Afghanistan is somewhat similar to that of its neighboring countries. It has existed for a long time, but since the late 1970s the country has been involved in constant wars and people were less concerned about music. As such, music in Afghanistan has been suppressed and recording for outsiders minimal, despite a rich musical heritage.

During the 1990s, the post-Soviet and Taliban governments banned instrumental music and much public music-making. In spite of arrests and destruction ofmusical instruments, musicians have continued to play their trade into the present. The multi-ethnic city of Kabul has long been the regional cultural capital, but outsiders have tended to focus on the city of Herat, which is home to traditions more closely related to Iranian music than in the rest of the country. Lyrics throughout most of Afghanistan are typically in Dari (Persian) and Pashto.

                                                       classical

The classical musical form of Afghanistan is called klasik, which includes both instrumental and vocal and belly dancing ragas, as well as Tarana and Ghazals. Many Ustads, or professional musicians, have learned North Indian classical music in India, and some of them were Indian descendants who moved from India to the royal court in Kabul in the 1860s. They maintain cultural and personal ties with India—through discipleship or intermarriage—and they use the Hindustani musical theories and terminology, for example raga (melodic form) and tala (rhythmic cycle).

Afghan ragas, in contrast to Indian ones, tend to be more focused on rhythm, and are usually played with the tabla, or the local zerbaghali, dayra or dohol, all percussive instruments. Other Afghan classical instruments include the dutar, sorna, sitar, dilruba, tambur, ghichak, and Rubab.

Afghanistan's classical singers include the late Ustad Rahim Bakhsh (1924-1983), who is one of the Master singers of Patiala gharana in North Indian classical music and is also well-known throughout Indiaand Pakistan as a contemporary of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. His composition "Pai Ashk" was used in the theme song of the Hindi film Mera Saya. Other classical singers are Ustad Qasim, Ustad Mohammad Hussain Sarahang, and Ustad Nato.

                                                             rubab

The rubab is a common lute-like instrument in Afghanistan, and is the forerunner of the Indian sarod.^[2] The rubab is sometimes considered the national instrument of Afghanistan, and is called the "lion" of instruments;^[5] one reviewer claims it sounds like "a Middle Eastern predecessor to the blues that popped up in the Piedmont 100 years ago".^[6] The rubab has a double-chambered body carved from mulberry wood and has three main strings and a plectrum made from ivory, bone or wood.

Famous players of the rubab are Ustad Mohammad Omar and Aziz Herawi, while modern performers include Essa Kassemi, Homayun Sakhi, and Mohammed Rahim Khushna

                                                       dambura

The dombura is a popular folk instrument, particularly among the northern Tajiks and the Hazaras in the central part of the country. Notable Afghan dombura players include Dilagha Surood, Naseer Parwani, Mir Maftoon, Safdar Tawkloi and Rajab Haideri. The dombura is played with much banging and scratching on the instrument to help give a percussive sound. The two strings are made of nylon (in modern times) orgut. They cross a short bridge to a pin at the other end of the body. There is a tiny sound hole in the back of the instrument, while the top is thick wood. It is not finished with any varnish, filing or sanding of any kind, and as with all other Afghan instruments there is some