Aryana Sayeed

Aryana Sayeed is an Afghan singer, songwriter and TV personality.^[1] She rose to fame in 2008 with her single hit MashAllah. Since then she has performed regularly in concerts, TV shows, and philanthropic festivals, within and outside Afghanistan. She was the host of Shab-e-Mosiqi on 1TV Afghanistan and served as one of the judges in Voice of Afghanistan 2013 on Tolo TV. She then returned for the third series of the show, as a judge.

Early life

Aryana Sayeed was born in Kabul, Afghanistan to a Pashto speaking father and a Dari speaking mother. Her parents left Afghanistan when she was 8 years old and lived in Pakistan before settling in Switzerland. Currently she lives in London, England with her Mother and siblings.^[2] By the age of 12 she had obtained admission to a music school where she would perform in places with a choir, "even though it wasn't for long but that definitely made me realize what I wanted to become when I grow older" she has said on her interviews.^[3]

Music career

Being the first mainstream Afghan hip hop and pop singer, Aryana left a good first impression behind in the Afghan Music Industry. However, her turning point in her career came after her song Afghan Pesarak got released.^[4] Aryana Sayeed became a household name in many Afghan homes outside of Afghanistan and was requested to perform at many concerts around the world.^[5] At the peak of all the sudden success, Aryana decided to go to Afghanistan and perform at concerts inside her fragile home country. Aryana Sayeed rose to fame there with her version of an old classic Afghan song, Gule Seb. It was during these initial days in Afghanistan when she filmed her next song Dilam Tang Ast. The success of the song resulted in an Award for best song filmed inside Afghanistan at the Aryana Television Awards. It also resulted in a new career as a TV host at one of Afghanistan's leading entertainment channels.^[6] Her next song Hairanam did reasonably well. Aryana's next big success, Jelwa, was a collaboration with one of the leading singers in the Afghan Music Industry, Jawid Sharif. This was the second time they paired up after their initial success, Biya Biya. Aryana Sayeed followed this up by an upbeat nationalistic song to encourage the art of sports in her country. Several singers were signed on to make the song, Afghanistan Afghanistan. Aryana's, Banoo e Atash Nasheen which describes the pain the women of Afghanistan have faced over years of war and abuse has won her enormous critical acclaim.^[7] A large orchestra has contributed to the music of the song and the shooting took place inside Afghanistan. Shortly after the song was released, Aryana was asked for an interview by the BBC to explain her reason and meaning behind the song. Her next big hit was Anaram Anaram which put Aryana back at the top of the charts in Afghanistan.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Television career

It wasn't long before Aryana Sayeed was signed on by one of the leading entertainment channels inside of Afghanistan, 1TV.^[12] Her show, Music Night, involved her performing and interviewing other artists. The show was a success and after the first season Aryana left to go back home in London. Shortly after this Aryana Sayeed was signed by, Tolo TV as one of the judges at The Voice of Afghanistan. A talent show based on blind auditions popular in countries all over the world. She continued her collaboration with the TV station and subsequently became a judge on another talent show Afghan Star.^[6]

Controversies

Aryana Sayeed was first scrutinized after a fake picture of her and a foreign man was circulating around social networking sites. Aryana Sayeed made the rumours stop after she posted the real and fake picture next to each other on her official Facebook page.^[13] At one of the final shows of Afghan Star on Tolo TV, where Aryana was invited as a guest judge, Aryana was seen performing to her own version of an Ahmad Zahir song, Tu Baray Moqadasi. Shortly after the performance was aired on television a large amount of complaints were made by the conservative section of Afghanistan, as they found the white dress Aryana Sayeed had chosen to wear too tight.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} After the Rumi Awards 2013, Aryana Sayeed's manager went on social networking site, Facebook, to express his dislike to a former Afghan singer Parasto.^[19] According to reports, Parasto had made rude remarks about Aryana Sayeed in front of a large audience. The matter got ugly when Parasto's daughter, Shabana Mehryar, who is a well known singer herself, started to use abusive language on the public platform.^[20] Shortly after this the comment was deleted and the matter was put to rest.

On May 13, 2017, Sayeed gave a sold-out concert in Paris. She wore a nude-colored dress and was accused by conservative fringes of the Afghan society of being naked onstage and dishonoring Afghans abroad. Reacting to this, she posted a video on facebook where she burned the dress, in order to show its material existence but first and foremost to highlight that this controversy was taking away the focus from serious issues. She commented: "It should be noted that the reason for this action of mine is not the pressure of those who still live in dark ages but to raise further awareness in regards to important issues within our society.".^[21]

Future projects

Aryana's future projects include a Pashto song which took her more than two years to make and a Qataghani song.

Discography

Singles:

• Bia Bia
• Mashallah
• Tark
• Afghan Pesarak
• Gule Seb cover
• Delam Tang Ast
• Ya Habibi
• Yallah Yallah cover
• Shab Shabe Mahtab
• Hairanam
• Jelwa
• Tu Baraym Moqadasi
• Tobah Tobah cover
• ShaKoko Jan cover
• Afghanistan Afghanistan
• Banoo-e Atash Nasheen
• Madar-e-Afghan
• Lahza Ha
• Anaram Anaram
• Qahraman
• Jashnay toot (qarsak)
• Yaar -e- bamyani
• Kamak Kamak
• Khurshid Farda
• Zan Astam
• Bi Aaghosh E Tu
• Bibi shirini (Aryana band)

References