
In September 22, 1962, a quiet and reclusive child is born in Gozargaah,
Kabul. Two decades later, he becomes one of the prominent voices and a
revolutionary brain behind the contemporary music of Afghanistan.
From an old-well known Afghan family, Farhad's grandfather "Shir Mohammad
Khan Afghan" - known as "Nashir" (author) - is celebrated today
as the "Father of Modernized Kunduz". He contributed enormously in the
building of agriculture and industrial technology in the Northern Afghanistan.
Farhad continues to live in Kunduz, a love inspiring and an exhilarating
province in the North, for the first 17 years of his life. He was connected to
his surrounding and nature from childhood, which also results to inspire his
intellect and works.
"Nayestan" (Reed-Bed) is the first ever-musical band that Darya founds
while attending "Shir Khan" High School in Kunduz. Later, after
graduating "Habibia" High School in Kabul, he attends the Polytechnic
Institute from 1979 to 1982.
In the beginning of Soviet invasion, 1979, he moves with his family to Kabul
where he stays until September 1990.
In 1980 Farhad appears for the first time on the sole TV station in the country
just a year after the Soviet invasion. He can't stand the oppression against his
people, and stands up to voice their pain. Farhad starts a professional life,
which turns out to suffer as much as his compatriots have in the past two
decades.
While also studying in Kabul University, Farhad forms "Goroh-e-Baran"
(Rain Band), his first professional band, by grouping with 3 other university
students, and starts rocking the routine in music and Afghan tunes (1983). The
traditional Afghan society can hardly see the twenty-year-old Darya established
enough as a classical singer, songwriter, composer, lyricist, band founder, and
above all a trendsetter. Therefore, Darya decides to use the pseudo name "Abr"
(Cloud) when writing and producing music for other artists.
From 1983 to 1987, Darya attends Faculty of Literature in University of Kabul.
In 1988 Farhad becomes an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Fine Art,
University of Kabul, and teaches Classical Music for a year.
In fall 1990 he leaves Kabul for Prague, Czech Republic, and then for Hamburg,
Germany. Farhad falls in love in Paris with his future wife, Sultana Emam, an
Afghan born student of University of Sorbonne, and get married in 1993. In
November 1995 Darya moves to United States, and continues to reside in the state
of Virginia.
He becomes father to his son, Hejran Darya in 1996. Between the years of 1980
and 1990, Darya launches more than 15 albums in Afghanistan; and between 1990
and 2001, he pursues another 13 albums while in exile. He has performed in
sold-out concerts in United States, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Sweden,
Denmark, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Italy, Turkey . . with an aim to keep
Afghan culture, music, and the light of hope alive amidst the diaspora.
He has, times and again, received the title of "Best Singer of the
Year", both at home and abroad, and most recently in summer 2001 in
Copenhagen, Denmark. Despite inventing a new entity in the regional music, Darya
learns from great Afghan music legends such as Ustad Qasim, Ustad Sarahang,
Ustad Awalmeer, Ahmad Zahir, and other name worthy personalities, who inspire
him at the first place.
Farhad Darya is a song writer, composer, singer, and music searcher who has
written and sung a remarkable array of songs in most major Afghan and regional
languages such as Dari, Pashto, Uzbek, Hazaragi, and Urdo. He wants to draw a
rainbow of peace and harmony from the existing disparities for all these mosaics
of people in his land.
For the last two decades, he has tried to mend the war-torn and disconnected
Afghan nation towards unity, and is known for being one of the most daring and
stringent musicians in the Afghan Resistance. He has sought to redefine an
isolated people to the rest of the world. In response to the current
developments in Afghanistan, he has planned a worldwide benefit tour, titled
"I am Cold!" to help the much suffered and needy Afghan Children.