MoIC Remembers Ghazal Maestro Sarahang on His Death Anniversary

Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC) commemorated the 39th death anniversary of Afghan Ghazal maestro, Ustad Mohammad Hussain Sarahang, during a ceremony here in Kabul, the ministry said Thursday.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, acting Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammad Tahir Zuhair, said that the last forty years of war has badly affected music and hindered its growth and development in the country.

He assured the artists, that the Ministry of Information and Culture was taking practical steps to develop the art of music in the country and that to tackle the challenges ahead of it.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Culture and Arts, Haroon Hakimi, also spoke at the event, describing art as imagining life, adding that life is difficult without imagination. He also said that art eases imagination, and stressed that he was committed to paying special attention to holding cultural events.

Mohammad Hussain Sarahang, “the crown of Afghanistan’s music” – a title given to him after his death– passed away 39 years ago in Kabul. He learned music first from his father and then pursued higher studies in music in India for 16 years.

Ustad Sarahang was 65 years old when he died. He was awarded many medals and earned many nicknames for his magical Ghazal songs.

Kabul’s Kharabat Street is his birthplace, an area that once housed Afghanistan’s famed and most loved musicians, maestros and singers, many of whom had followed their ancestors in the pursuit of music. Today, the street houses a small number of families of composers.

Kabul (BNA)