Farhad Darya


Farhad Darya Nashir is a Pashtun Afghan singer, composer and music producer. He serves as the United Nations Development Program National Goodwill Ambassador for Afghanistan and is involved in numerous charitable organizations, such as Music Village and others. He has earned affection for not only his music but also patriotism. He has a fan base that stretches from his native Afghanistan to others parts of South Asia, as well as Central Asia and Tajikistan. Darya sings in various languages including Pashto, Persian, Uzbek, Hindi-Urdu and English.

Early years and personal life

Darya is a Pashtun, born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is the grandson of Sher Khan Nashir. He studied Persian literature while attending Kabul University. During this time, he wrote music for other artists under the pseudonym Abr, and started playing Afghan and Indian classical music. He later left the university and enrolled in the Afghan Armed Forces.
In 1990 he immigrated to Germany and began singing again. After traveling through Prague and Hamburg, Darya arrived in Paris, where he would meet Sultana Emam. The two were married in 1993 and moved to Northern Virginia in the United States in 1995. A year later they gave birth to a son, Hejran Darya.

Career

Since Darya's television debut on Afghanistan's television network in 1980, he has released over two dozen albums. He founded a band, Goroh-e-Baran with Asad Badie, which became one of the best known Afghan bands in the 1980s. Throughout his career Darya has sold over 2 million copies of albums – the acclaimed ones produced in exile, many of which deal with the Soviet–Afghan War and the resulting misfortunes of the war-torn nation. Most of the music is aimed at helping Afghans bringing peace and unity to their country, and deals with themes of national unity.
He released his Salaam Afghanistan album in 2003, with a DVD release of music videos in March 2004.
In September 2006, Darya's new single Salamalek in a collaboration with German musician Peter Maffay was released, as part of Maffay's album Begegnungen – Eine Allianz für Kinder. It was Darya's first rock song.
In August 2007, Darya completed his new album HA! and was released in Afghanistan, followed by Germany in March 2008. The video of his song Dohle Bezan from the album HA! premiered on Afghan's national television in February 2008. Later that year, Darya's new album Yahoo was released.
He has not worked on a new album since, although has released several singles, including Attan, Dew Hai Mast, Nashkenad and Oo Ghaita.

Awards

Darya produced additional scoring and lyrics for Through Her Eyes a film by Mithaq Kazimi in 2007.
Darya produced background music for the film In Foreign Land.