Ustad Shah Wali is a renowned musician from 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 1952, in Tagab

Tagab District (Kapisa Province)

The Tagab District is situated in the eastern part of Kapisa Province, Afghanistan. It borders with Parvan Province to the West, Mahmud Raqi and Nijrab to the North, Alasay District to the East and Kabul Province to the South-East. The population is 71,700 - Pashtun and some Pashayee...

, Kapisa Province

Kapisa Province

Kapisa is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the north-east of the country. Its capital is Mahmud-i-Raqi, and other districts include Kohistan, Nijrab and Tagab. The population of Kapisa is estimated to be 364,900, although there has never been an official estimate...

 of Afghanistan.

Shah Wali is an ethnic 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...

 who has sung more than 300 songs in Pashto, Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

, and Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

. His father was a businessman and had nothing to do with music. It was on his own account that Shah Wali carved a name for himself in this line.

Before his migration to 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...

, Shah Wali had already sung more than 250 songs for 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...

 Television. Once in 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...

, he was taken in as a pupil by Ustad Nawab Ali Khan of the "House of Patiala" for 12 years and where he got an opportunity to learn from "King of Ghazal

Ghazal

The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...

" Mehdi Hassan

Mehdi Hassan

Mehdi Hassan is a Pakistani ghazal singer and a former playback singer for Lollywood. He is famously known as the 'King of ghazal' . He has ruled the Pakistan film industry along with Ahmed Rushdi...

, Farida Khanam, and Nawab Shahabuddin Shahab, becoming by 1985 the leading Afghan singer in Pakistan. At the conclusion of his training he was conferred upon with the title of Ustad

Ustad

Ustad is an Arabized Persian word is a honorific title for a Muslim man in South Asia. The title precedes the name and is usually used for well regarded teachers and artists, most often musicians. It is applied and used via informal social agreement. It is abbreviated as ut. or ud.-References:*...

. His singing career started with his famous song "Shah Laila Rasha" for Afghanistan TV and the journey still goes on.

Personal life

Shah Wali has a wife and twelve children . Out of the twelve children, seven are boys and five are girls . Shah Wali along with his family now resides in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

and is actively involved with teaching music to a number of students.

Discography

• Watan (وطن)
• Songs of Love from Afghanistan (د مينې سندرې له افغانستان نه)
• Nazawelay Laila (نازولې ليلا)