Afghan traditional songs:
Sorry for the late reply. I searched but could not find proper links to traditional songs, so i did not have enough to time upload before. I’ve uploaded some of the songs i had to my soundcloud account. You can download aswell.
These are some of my favorite traditional Attan songs. I hope everyone gives them a try; they are beautiful, makes you want to perform Attan.
Shin Ghoti Lawango
- https://soundcloud.com/vicoden/qandi-kochi-shinghoti-lawango
De Paktiawalo Attan
- http://soundcloud.com/vicoden/da-paktia-attan
Rawali Janan me
- http://soundcloud.com/vicoden/rawali-janan
Sherena yara dar jagameka
- http://soundcloud.com/vicoden/qandi-kochi-sherena-yara
Zaar La mashomtoba
- http://soundcloud.com/vicoden/zaar-la-mashomtoba
Khatmi Zanzeri
-http://soundcloud.com/vicoden/khatmi-zanziri
Tora da Jilkay
-http://soundcloud.com/vicoden/daud-hanif-tora-da-jilkay
Border Talk Crosses The Line In Afghanistan
Foreign diplomats visiting Kabul tread carefully when it comes to the Durand Line, knowing full well that the colonial-era border separating British India and Afghanistan is a touchy subject. It was no secret that Washington considers the Durand Line — established by British India and the Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1893 — the modern-day border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland offered reminders of that fact during an October 23 press briefing in which she was questioned about Grossman’s comment. “Our policy on this has not changed,” she said. “It was correctly stated by Ambassador Grossman that we see this as the internationally recognized boundary.”.
But the comments have nevertheless raised hackles in Afghanistan, which has not recognized the Durand Line as its eastern border since Pakistan’s partition from the British Raj in 1947.
The Afghan daily “Weesa” this week quoted several Afghan lawmakers describing Grossman’s statement as interference in domestic Afghan affairs.
‘An Issue For Pashtuns, And Pashtuns Only’
The Durand Line is indeed divisive. It runs directly through traditional Pashtun lands, splitting one of the world’s largest tribal societies in two. Those to the west of the line are Afghan; to the east Pakistani.
Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, the head of Kabul’s Center for Regional Studies of Afghanistan, says the Durand Line is considered a top national issue in the country, but one that is up to the Pashtuns themselves to decide.
“Recognizing the legitimacy of this line is in the hands of the masses that live on either side of the border. This is also the formal position of the Afghan government,” Liwal says. “This is why the Afghan government has protested against this [Grossman’s] statement.”
But there are those in Afghanistan who would rather not be reminded of that fact. “I think talking about such [controversial] issues will have negative consequences for relations between America and the people of Afghanistan,” Aryan Yoon, a member of the foreign-relations committee of the Afghan parliament, said this week. “I think it will benefit both countries if we desist from talking about such issues.”
Liwal, whose government-funded think tank researches strategic and foreign-policy issues, says most Afghans still dream of a return of the much bigger and united Afghanistan that existed before the advent of European colonialism in South Asia.
Modern Afghanistan emerged from the fragmentation of the Durrani dynasty, an 18th-century Pashtun empire based in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Internal rivalries and wars eventually weakened the dynasty’s hold on regions that today constitute Pakistan and northern India.
Afghans in the both side of the Durandline are bond by blood, religion, culture, ethnicity and language & can’t be divided #LoyAfghanistan
لکه ګل چې په اوبو باندې تازه شي
. داسې زړه مې ستا کتو باندې تازه شي“like a rose that becomes fresh with the touch of water
such is my heart, becomes fresh at the sight of you.”
Our War Against the Pashtuns
“In any case, most of them are not really fighting for the Taliban as such, but for what they see as the defense of their country and their honor, and for revenge for relatives killed by Western forces. The apparently overwhelming US and Northern Alliance victory has however proved largely illusory in the long run not only because of the underlying strength of Pashtun numbers in the region, but because Pashtun conservatism has been re-energized by the US and NATO military presence itself.
Quite apart from the absolutely disastrous aspects of Western strategy and behavior over the years and the awful character of the Karzai regime we put in place in Kabul, the US and NATO “occupation” of Afghanistan has fed into an absolutely central premise of Pashtun culture, which is—in the words of a supporter of the secular and anti-Taliban Awami National Party in Pakistan—that “every Pashtun is brought up from his cradle to believe that to resist foreign occupation is part of what it is to do Pashto,” in other words to follow the honorable path of a Pashtun. “
continue»
Pashto Landay : A form of Afghan poetry
Pashto Landay Anonymous Pashto Couplets Landay are those national couplets in Pashto whose authors are unknown. They can, therefore, be called mirrors which reflect the sentiments and passions of every sensitive pashtoon man and woman. These couplets are sung and enjoyed among lofty mountains, verdant valleys, vast deserts and sylvan surroundings, in villages and towns, by the side of the cascading waterfall and the humble nomadic tent, on the shepherd’s flute and the orchard-keeper’s reed pipe, in short in every corner of the land of the Pashtoons. The oldsters sing them in memory of a youth which is no more; young men and maidens seek the intoxicating tumult of a passionate youth in their lines; for the lovelorn they are messengers of words sweet and divine; the swordsmen dance to their melody on the battlefield; and the weary traveler forgets the pangs of separation from home in their sweet words. These couplets, composed of plain, easily understood, yet fluent language, are totally free of the influence of foreign, languages. Although some pushto poems are based on Arabic prosody yet these couplets are not only unfettered by Arabic versification, they are based on a syllabic-prosody of their own in as much as the first line of the couplet has nine syllables and the second thirteen. Another outstanding quality of these couplets in that contrary to the general pattern of poetry in most (Landay) the woman address the man. This is so because compared to the male the sentiments of the female are more tender, her sorrow more profound and he voice more sweeter, and that is why the (Landay) are more moving in their effects, and the enjoyment is proportionately greatr than that found in conventional pushto poetry. Similarly every (Landay) couplet can be recited in different ways on different occasions. To be more explicit, a Landay couplet can be sung in different tunes and with different musical notes in combat and rejoicing, while traveling, whether inactive or dancing, in travail and happiness, in fact at all times and on all occasions.
ُExamples of Pashto landay.
پاس په كمر ولاړه ګله!
نصيب دچايي اوبه زه درخيژومه
O Flower that you grow on the mountain side;
The duty to water you belongs to me, but to whom would you belong?زړه مي هلك دي راته ژاړي
چه رانه غواړي دپردي باغچوګلونه
My heart is like a child; it cries,
and demands flowers from a stranger’s garden.ستا به د ګلو دوران تير شۍ
زما به پاته شۍ دزړه سوۍ داغونه
The blooming season of your beauty will pass;
But the scorched patches on my heart will always remain fresh.په ګل ګلاب دي و ويشتمه
تر لاس دي جارشم دښمنانو وليدمه
You have thrown a rose at me;
blessed be thy hands, but malevolent eyes have noticed.مخ دي ګلاب سترګي دي شمعي
نه پري پوهيږم چه بورا كه بتنګه شمه
Your face is a rose and your eyes are candles;
Faith! I am lost, should i become a butterfly or a moth?زه دپسرلۍ تر ګل تازه وم
ستا په بيلتون كښي لكه پاڼه زيړه شوم
I used to be more fresh than spring blossoms, O Beloved!
But your separation has turned me yellow like an autumn leaf.ستا په يوه تومت رنګ زيړشو
زه دتومت جامي په غاړه ګرزومه
Your cheeks have been paled with only one slander;
while I am clothed from head to foot with calumnies.
Read more here
Ranra - Ismail and Junaid
Pashto song
Lyrics:
Jaar jaar zama ranra zama laila da-
(O love, You are the light of my life)
jaar jaar zama drana agha waina-
(O love, You are the depth of my speech)
stanza 1:
Toro shpo ki ragharegi stargey da janat pa khwa-
(In the shade of night, I wake up besides heaven)
storo ghundhay rawarigi noor ay da makh pa ma-
( Like the stars, Her glow brightens my face)
yakh zra ki mi raabaleegi oor da janaan pa khwa-
(In my cold heart, She ignites the fire again)
khoog ghunday uss lagegi har naway sitam pa ma-
(Now I take pleasure in all the cruel acts bestowed upon me)
Nwar warta salam wai,daasey yao ranra wai-
(The sun bows to the light of my beloved)
Stanza 2:
Maayo ki wai nishta dai,khumaar ay dai shundaano ki-
(Her lips hold intoxication, what the goblet of wine can’t)
hooro ki wai nishta dai, haya ay da chishmaano ki-
(Her eyes hold the shyness that houris don’t)
sparli ki wai nishta dai, wagma ay da zulfanu ki-
(Spring can’t bear, the fragrance of her hair)
soori ki wai nishta dai,wafa ay da mayaano ki-
(Shadows don’t bear the loyalty her admirers hold)
Stanza 3:
Gora chi praday shay ta, wora um zama ay ta-
(You’re mine even in the hold of a stranger)
um zama zawaal ay ta,um zama parwaaz ay ta-
(You’re my peak, and my fal)
Ismail pa kama kama dai,Udrawa sailaab ta-
(Ismail is embraced by hardships, let the floods stop flow)
Armaan mi thama thama dai, Raora Inqilaab ta-
(My frustrated desire still awaits the blood-free Revolution)
Qarar - Ismail and Junaid
smail and Junaid’s debut song Qarar (pashto song)
Lyrics: Ismail and Junaid
Rubab: Farhan Bogra
QARAR (English Translation)
Oh Lord! Turn me into droplets of rain so I dribble on her pretty face,
Or make her beloved so that my face may burn in the flames of thy love.
I adore and love the crimson layer on her lips,
Oh friends take me to her, for here i am confined.
O! serenity embrace me! O serenity, embrace me!..
All sorrow and grief disappears when i see her beautiful face and yet misery begins to haunt me when the face of that star disappears into the distance.
If you make me yours,i will build castles of dreams for you.
And if you have forsake me,i will break down the castles built in reality.
I’m ‘ghani’ for I long for the goblet of beloved’s lips
I’m ‘maftoon’ for I break through sanity for the sake of my love
I’m ‘Khatir’ for my love is pure
I’m ‘Ismail’ for I love with my dripping blood
O! serenity embrace me! O serenity, embrace me!..
که افغان ېمه، خو انسان یمه..اخر ولی مې وژنۍ، حېران یمه
Pashto, known as Afghan in Farsi and Pathan in Punjabi (the two languages being located on either side of Pashto), is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and west of the Indus River in Pakistan. It is a member of the Eastern Iranian languages group spoken in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as by the Pashtun diaspora around the world.
Pashto belongs to the Northeastern branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, although Ethnologue lists it as Southeastern. The number of Pashtuns or Pashto-speakers is estimated 50-60 million people world wide.
In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language of about 15.42% of Pakistan’s 170 million people. It is the main language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and northwestern Balochistan, but also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province as well as by Pashtuns who are found living in different cities throughout the country. Modern Pashto-speaking communities are also found in the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh. In 1984, Pashto was permitted to be used as the medium of instruction in primary schools.
Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in northeastern Iran, primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen, near the Afghan border, and in Tajikistan. There are also communities of Pashtun communities descent in the southwestern part of Jammu and Kashmir.
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