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Afghan People
Hamid Rahimi Biography
Hamid Rahimi was born on 12th September 1983 in Afghanistan (Kabul). In 1992, he fled the civil war and came to Germany (Hamburg) with his parents and three siblings. A crucial experience from his childhood marked the beginning of his boxing career:
The 11 year old immigrant Hamid Rahimi was called up in the classroom. When he didn't
understand the teacher's question, his classmates burst out laughing. During recess, he was
wound up by three of his classmates. Due to his lack of knowledge of the German language, he
was unable to verbally defend himself, so he beat up the three boys without further ado. Hiscrime was rewarded with the admiration of his peers and they never made fun of him again. In
this moment Hamid decided that he could gain recognition by using his fists. His passion for
boxing was born. Very early on, he showed his exceptional willpower and talent for martial arts.
In 1998, the very first thing he did was to acquire the basic skills of Thai boxing. Obsessed with
his goal to become stronger and better, Hamid spent several months in 2002 in a training camp
in Thailand, which is the birth place of Thai boxing. Isolated from the outside world, he learned
new techniques and defeated his first opponent in the ring. The move to amateur boxing sealed
the bond of the athlete with boxing for good. The fights were no longer carried out on the streets
but only within the four ropes of the ring.
In 2003, he was discovered by the renowned trainer Owen Reece and became his protege. In
2004, boxing briefly took a back seat as he opened a Restaurant-Bar named Buddha Lounge in
Hamburg. The idea to combine the culture of Southeast Asia with modern European design was a
very successful one. Despite this, Hamid gave up his job as a restaurateur in order to return to
his calling as a boxer.
On 10.11.2006 Hamid Rahimi entered the ring for the first time under the name of "The Dragon"
- his successful professional debut. Hamid Rahimi's sporting career shows a shining track record
as an unbeaten professional boxer.
Kastro (Kice Soroor) Biography
Kastro (Kice Soroor) is the first Afghan Pop Artist to hit the music scene with his unique sound & style. His official first single “Crush on You” debuted in early 2010, which received (without any promo) over 50,000 Youtube views in a matter of months. When asking Kastro his thoughts on his tremendous success, he says: "People don't just go to Youtube to WATCH the music video; in fact, it's the song that keeps them coming back."
Since then, his talent has certainly progressed and is shown through his ability to create music in different genres such as Hip Hop, Rap, RnB, Rock, Electro-pop and House. Besides having countless interviews and features, Kastro has already performed at some of Toronto's hottest venues. Whether it be Luxy Nightclub, Frequency Nightclub or The Guvernment, Kastro dedicates all of his success to his family, friends and the whole Afghan community.
He also performed at the Direct Energy Centre in front of 30,000 spectators; entertained massive crowds with Bollywood's Atif Aslam & Amanat Ali; and recently did an appearance at the 8th Annual Miss Pakistan World Event. Knowing that he is destined to bring change, Kastro accordingly released his first debut album "The Revolution" on 9/11/2010.
Sitara Nawabi is an Afghan-American pop singer-songwriter from San Francisco, California. She debuted in the music world on July 5th 2008 with her first single "Masti", and followed through with her second single "Disco Dewaneh", which was a cover rendition of the original song by Nazia Hassan, which was released in the early 1980's. Her musical background leads back to a very young age. At the age of 10 she discovered her love and passion and slowly grew with it as time progressed. Joining the musical choir and singing at every talent show in her school from grade 6 to graduation she realized that singing was and always had been an important part of her life. After graduation her family sought other opportunities other then music and decided to persuade a young Sitara Nawabi to possibly pursue dentistry another love she had besides music. After graduation she pursued her education and became a registered dental hygienist / registered dental hygienist in alternative practice. Before she could make her debut back in the music scene on July 5th 2008, a sense of motivation had pushed her to pursue her music career when she saw the airing of Ariana TV in 2006. Unlike other Afghan female artists currently in the music scene, Sitara has a very distinguished, elegant, and unique style that puts her out of the "box", making her a pioneer of a brand new style of Afghan music. Sitara has had 2 main different vocal coaches; her father & her old school teacher from grade 6 to 12, Mr. Benneth that helped her find her passion.
Currently working with various producers from different backgrounds (i.e. Arab, Persian, Indian, American/Canadian) she always continues to push the boundaries of sound by collaborating with different cultures. Having such an early musical birth in the mainstream TV, Sitara is one of the few artists that has a fast growing fan base that is only going to increase in the future. She continues to send her appreciation and love back to every single fan that has showed support through out the years and continues to do so.
Najim Nekzad Biography
 Najim Nekzad was born in Kartay Se in Kabul, Afghanistan in a middle class and educated family. He started his education at the Rukhshana Elementary School and graduated from Habibya Secondary School. In 1991 due to difficulties that a lot of our people faced in Afghanistan he too was forced to flee the country and traveled for a while before ending up in Holland. After learning the language Najim went back to school and obtained his diploma in Economy. He worked for different companies such as Philips, Insurance Company and some large Banks. In 14 February 2004 Najim said good bye to the single life and with pleasure he started his married life and lives very happily in Holland with his wife.
Ever since childhood Najim was interested in music and learning the art of singing. He would sing songs from the singers of the time and show interest in their music and starting at age ten he started to take part in his elementary school?s musical programs where his singing would get applause and encouragements from the audience. He was also chosen to be a part of the children?s program and was broadcasted through the Afghan Television. At the age of thirteen he entered the Hindi Classical Music School in Kabul and became a student of music under Ustaad Erfan Mohammad Khan, where he learned classical Sitar. Najim had learned many musical numbers of Sitar some of which were also broadcasted through the children?s program of Afghan Television.
As the political climate of Afghanistan was becoming less safe and more volatile Indian Music teachers fled the country and so after approximately two years attending the Music School Najim had to discontinue his education and stop playing the Sitar. Due to the fact that Najim?s father was a big fan of music and had collected many different musical instruments such as the Harmonium, Tabla, Guitar, Accordion, Flute, Violin and Darbuka. Najim took advantage of this opportunity and using the education he had received from Ustaad Efran Moahammad Khan and the material he had from the Music school he began to learn the Harmonium and singing. As he slowly became more and more comfortable with the Harmonium and singing he started playing at family and friends functions and those times became unforgettable as he shared his joy of singing in his loved one?s joyous moments. After he came to Holland, despite the difficulties he had to face, he did not leave music behind and started to learn the Keyboard. He would take books from the library that were about musical instruments and learn more about the instruments. He also got to know people in Holland who were familiar with the Keyboard.
As he became more comfortable with the instrument and gained Najim started to perform at functions. Najim has also made a commitment to excel in his education and improve his knowledge of music for this he has been taking classical music lessens for the past two years from Ustaad Sandeep Bhatacharya an Ustad Ashok Patak. In 1996 he performed for the first time in front of hundreds of people at the Cultural Celebration in the city of Venlo, Holland. His performance was received very well and he has become a regular performer for cultural and celebratory events in Holland.
Obaid Juenda Biography 
Birth name: Obaid Juenda Born: 3 November 1975 , Kunduz, Afghanistan Genres: Music of Afghanistan, Pop & Ghazal Occupations: Singer, Composer, Instruments : Harmonium, Keyboard,
This article has been provided and written by Mena
Personal life:
Obaid Juenda was born on 3rd November 1975 in the city of Kunduz where his father Mohammad Suleiman Khan was working as an official representative for a company called Speen Zar.Obaid completed his primary and secondary education at Amani School and started his higher education at University Of Kabul in Law Faculty.Obaid, being blessed with a haunting melodious voice and tremendous sense of rhythm, was initially a self-taught young musician who took part in many musical events at school and received a warm reception and support from the crowed of his audients. He recalls each single performance as great source of encouragement and simultaneously a driving force behind his commitment to music which made him devoted to music and as it appears from his surname “Juenda” (in-search-of) never refused to seek help from music clear- sighted people who could offer him a piece of advice.
In 1992 Obaid was forced out of Afghanistan by the war in the country and made his way to Kiev the capital of Ukraine where he carried on with his education.
In 1994 Obaid went to England where he was afforded further opportunity to explore his ability and talent in the field of music, and decided to establish a firm basis for his only ambition, music. Subsequently he met his ustad, one of the greatest names in music, Mr. Ghulam Ali and became his student.
Career:
Obaid had his first breakthrough to radio and TV whilst he was a law student at Kabul university and the first song titled “sadai qalbam” he recorded for radio and TV became a hit and he managed to record few more tracks but due to the sudden change of situation in Afghanistan they never got broadcasted.
In 2000 Obaid released his music album titled “Kaba-ye-Dil” , which was widely appreciated by the music lovers and professionals, and gained an ample of positive comments and supports.
Hadis-e wafa (the tradition of fedelity) is the latest album from Obaid Juenda which rocked the Afghan music market ever since it was released on July 2005 with its smash hit tracks: Hadis-e wafa and Dokhtar-e Nazi.
Obaid recently released his new album Aghaz which is expected to be another hit album.
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