Rafiq Shinwari
Encyclopedia
Mohammad Rafiq Shinwari was a singer and composer of Pashto music. Though he also tried his luck with Pashto poetry and wrote a few poems as well but it was his compositions for early Pashto movies that earned him a big name in this field.
A disciple of Hazrat Abdul Sattar Bacha he was brought to Bacha's abode by his mother as a child in late 1940s from Nangarhar, Afghanistan
. Rafiq Shinwari started his career as a Qawali singer of Radio Pakistan
Peshawar
Studio in 1961. Subsequently he became a household name among the Pashtun
population of both Afghanistan
and Pakistan
in the 1970s and 1980s. He primarily sang the Sufi Poetry of Ameer Hamza Shinwari
and Rahman Baba
. Himself a Sufi by heart, Ustad Shinwari used to sing in a rare husky voice, which would leave his audience in a state of trance. As a music director some of his Pashto movies include Orbal, Ehsan, Qaidi, Dameena, Topak Zama Qanoon, Iqrar, Naway Da Yawai Shpai, and Khana Badosh.
Out of his two sons namely Shaifq and Ghulam Ali, the later committed suicide in 1988 due to unknown reasons.
In 2004, the Rafiq Shinwari Ulasi award was established in his honour.
A disciple of Hazrat Abdul Sattar Bacha he was brought to Bacha's abode by his mother as a child in late 1940s from Nangarhar, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Rafiq Shinwari started his career as a Qawali singer of Radio Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
Studio in 1961. Subsequently he became a household name among the Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
population of both Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
in the 1970s and 1980s. He primarily sang the Sufi Poetry of Ameer Hamza Shinwari
Ameer Hamza Shinwari
Ameer Hamza Shinwari , born in Landi Kotal in the year 1907 and died in February 1994, was a famous Pashtun poet. He Belonged to the Shinwari tribe of the ethnic Pashtuns. Ameer Hamza's work is considered a fusion between classic and modern poetry...
and Rahman Baba
Rahman Baba
Abdul Rahman Baba is popularly known as Rahman Baba , was a Pashtun Muslim poet from Peshawar in modern-day Pakistan who remains the most popular poet among the Pashtuns...
. Himself a Sufi by heart, Ustad Shinwari used to sing in a rare husky voice, which would leave his audience in a state of trance. As a music director some of his Pashto movies include Orbal, Ehsan, Qaidi, Dameena, Topak Zama Qanoon, Iqrar, Naway Da Yawai Shpai, and Khana Badosh.
Out of his two sons namely Shaifq and Ghulam Ali, the later committed suicide in 1988 due to unknown reasons.
In 2004, the Rafiq Shinwari Ulasi award was established in his honour.