Abdul-Rahim Sārbān known simply as Sarban, was a singer from Kabul

Kabul

Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

, 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...

. He was born in Kabul an old area called (Saragy) to rice verdure father and stay home mother. He is known for his unique voice and music style that no other singer from Afghanistan has been able to imitate. The legendary Ahmad Zahir

Ahmad Zahir

Ahmad Zahir was a singer, songwriter, and composer from Afghanistan. He is considered an icon of Afghan music and is sometimes called the "King of Afghan music"...

 was born in Kabul too was a fan of Sarban and incorporated his original songs into Zahir's own collection. Sarban had also some success outside of Afghanistan, especially in the neighboring Persian-speaking countries Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 and Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....

, where he gave several rounds of live performances at the height of his career

Career

Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....

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Career

Sarban’s life is said to have been unhappy. Little is known of his childhood

Childhood

Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...

 and most sources only speak of him after his rise to fame

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

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From humble beginnings to national recognition, Sarban gained popularity due to his unconventional music style and a voice that simultaneously absorbed and repelled the listener. Due to the uniqueness of the tone

Timbre

In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...

 of his voice, he was constantly analyzed. He had a polarized fan base as those who loved him did so with a passion

Passion (emotion)

Passion is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something....

 and those who disregarded him also did so with strong sentiments.

Alcoholism

Sarban was reclusive and a shy man throughout his life. He seemed indifferent to fame and his celebrity status. Sarban had a drinking problem most of his life. There are no clear records of when he started drinking, but it was a well-known fact in Kabul Radio that Sarban could not sing without having a drink first. During the early 80s his alcoholism was taking its toll, and some of the symptoms began to manifest themselves: eccentric behavior on the stage; his speech began to deteriorate. The deteriorating voice effectively ended his singing career.

Death

Sarban died in poverty living in Pakistan. But after 12 years of his death, his dead body was taken back to the city where he was making thousands of his fans enjoy and buried in the Shohada-e-Saliheen in Kabul.

Contribution

Sarban was the first person to put lyrics to the Auhista Boro (Go Slowly) anthem played for brides on their wedding day.the famous British Muslim singer Sami Yousuf copied his first song from Sarban composed song, BEYAKE BEREM BA MAZAR(Oh Allah the Almighty) Among hundreds of other songs, he is especially remembered for his Gul Parast'(Flower Worshiper). The music, lyrics and tone of that song have the critics startled to this day.