Accolades: Khyal Muhammad honoured with Afghan presidential award

Peshawar-based singer becomes first non-Afghan recipient of prestigious Mir Bacha Khan Milli medal

PESHAWAR: It is often said that Pashtuns have agreed to never agree on anything. This time, however, they have made an exception. Pashtuns of both Afghanistan and Pakistan have unanimously paid tribute to the living legend of Pashto music, singer Khyal Muhammad, and honoured him with the title, ‘king of ghazal.’

President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani awarded Muhammad with the Mir Bacha Khan Milli medal — the country’s most prestigious award, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) directorate of culture and Pak-Afghan Journalists’ Peace Forum celebrate the ongoing ‘week of Khyal Muhammad.’ According to Ghani, The King of Pashto ghazals has a unique position in classical, folk and modern genres of Pashto music. “Muhammad has given soul to poetry and taken Pashto music to its peak,” he said in a statement.



Afghan Ambassador Dr Omar Zakhilwal, was scheduled to attend the event held at Nishtar Hall but was unable to do so due to the lockdown in Islamabad this week. Counsel-General Dr Abdullah Waheed Pohan, therefore, made the announcement regarding Muhammad himself.  Their aim is to not only commemorate living legends like the singer but also promote their image as symbols of peace in the K-P region. “It is the week of Khyal Muhammad; a week of peace that is being celebrated in 19 countries around the world,” said Farooq Firaq of the Pak-Afghan Journalists’ Peace Forum. “He has a unique voice, unparalleled by anyone else in thousands of years Pashtun history.”

This renders Muhammad the first ever recipient of the Mir Bacha Khan Milli outside of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the singer — who is often referred to as the Elvis Presley or Mehdi Hasan of Pashto music — was unable to travel and accept the medal himself, due to a prolonged illness. He is, nonetheless, every bit grateful. “Pashtuns in both countries are one and the same and I would like to thank them, my brothers, for this award,” he told The Express Tribune. “It feels great to be honoured this way, during my lifetime.”

Muhammad has also been declared ‘the Nashanas of Pashto music in Pakistan’ by the government of K-P. “We know our heroes very well,” said Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who performed Muhammad’s coronation. “Khyal has made the most significant contributions to Pashto music and took it to new heights.  Pakistan is proud to present him as a symbol of its rich culture to the rest of the world.”



Muhammad — who has previously been given the Pride of Performance Award — was born in Peshawar in 1946, into a family of musicians. His father Spin Gul and uncle Saiful Maluk had retained a lifelong affinity with folk music. In fact, they are the ones who guided Muhammad to the Radio Pakistan Peshawar center back in 1958, where he performed his first song at the age of 11 and was highly appreciated.

However, the musician had not been performing for the last two decades, although he has maintained his riyaz. During this time, Muhammad continued playing instruments like the tabla and harmonium. Other than this, he has also lent his voice to ghazals of famous Pashto poets such as Khushal Khan Khattak, Abdur Rahman Baba, Hamza Shinwari, Qalandar Mohmand, Muhammad Azam, Ajmal Khattak, Abdul Ghani Khan, and others.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2016.

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