Waheed Soroor

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وحید سرور Waheed Soroor
Image:WaheedSoroor.jpg Concert Cover
Background information
Birth name	Waheed Soroor (وحید سرور)
Born	Afghanistan
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	2000–present
Label(s)	Various

Waheed Soroor (Persian:وحید سرور) is a Tajik singer from Afghanistan. Waheed Soroor was born in 1971 in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. Being the son of two established Cinema, Theatre, TV and Radio artist parents Mazida and Khan Agha Soroor, he caught on to music at an early age. At the age of 8 he performed for school concerts at Said Noor Mohammad Shah Mina School in Karte-Nau. Waheed and his family moved to India in 1982, where he sang as the lead singer for his school in over 5 large concerts. Waheed Soroor left (during a Qawali concert in India). In the spring of 1987, Waheed and his family moved to Canada where he teamed up with his two brothers Walid and Wais Soroor and performed as the lead singer for the first musical group of Afghanistan in Toronto called Caravan in 1988. Waheed, then, joined his brother Walid Soroor and started a very successful group called king of hearts or Sultane Qalbha where he assumed the role of the keyboard player while he continued his post secondary education at York University in Toronto. Waheed and Walid, toured throughout Canada, the US, and Europe and performed in cities like Hamburg, Bonn, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, Virginia, Nashville, Philadelphia, and New Jersey among others. Having the native music of his country in his blood, over the years Waheed expanded his horizons and developed a special interest for music from the middle-east.

Waheed was very successful as a keyboard player and played with the likes of Hangama, Seema Tarana, Shadkam, Jawad Ghaziar and Walid Soroor among others artists from Afghanistan. Waheed returned to singing in 2004 and released his first CD titled lets dance in December of 2005. Much to his surprise, the CD was quite well received by his fans. Since the release of his CD, Waheed was invited to perform at several Functions including; the 25th anniversary of the Ontario Afghan Association in 2006, the CHIN International picnic (an event held in Toronto, Canada, where artists from different nations represent their art and culture) and several fundraising events organized by local University students that were also from Afghanistan including one for the University of Kabul and One for the children of Afghanistan. One of the reasons for Waheed Soroor's success has been his natural ability to sing in different languages and with different accents. Waheed Soroor can sing Pashtu, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic and of course Persian which is his mother tongue. And yes Waheed can also sing in English. Waheed gets his motivation for the music of Afghanistan from the earlier legend Ahmad Zahir, Farhad Darya and Amir Jaan Saboori who have employed energy, emotions, creativity and professionalism to represent their art and their country. Waheed gets his motivation for Persian-Iranian music from Googoosh, Omid and Moen. Waheed's most recent projects include a new CD which will be released at the end of 2006, singing three songs alongside Hangama and Shadkam, for the upcoming movie Ehsas, which will be released soon and arranging an album for Hangama. Waheed’s new CD titled “Soroor” promises to be better than the first one. It contains 12 new songs composed by Waheed himself, his brother Wais Soroor, young Pashtun singer Idris Sadozai and his father Khan Agha Soroor. The songs and the lyrics reflect the beauty and small diversity of the Persian-Tajik culture with songs about Kabul, Herat, Badakhshan, Panjshir and Hazarajât. It also includes some from persian (poems) into Pashtu translated songs.

In addition to his musical talents, Waheed Soroor also holds an honours degree in Biochemistry and Bachelor of Education with honors and is currently teaching chemistry in Canada. Waheed Soroor is also involved in the Afghan community and has volunteered his time as a consultant and as an artist on several occasions, which has earned him respect from his fellow compatriots in Toronto. Waheed recently coordinated an extensive project about the needs of a Youth for his countrymen in Toronto, a project funded by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in Toronto. Waheed was subsequently interviewed by the Toronto Star and the CBC radio to shed more light on the matter. Waheed is a strong believer that music brings people of the world together!