Ahmad Morid
| مريد Morid | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ahmad Morid |
| Born |
October 14, 1956 Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Genres | Soft rock, pop, Arabesque |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Harmonium |
| Years active | 1975–1982 |
| Labels | Music of Afghanistan, Ariana Records, Music Center |
Ahmad Morid (Persian: احمد مريد) popular as Morbid (born October 14, 1956) is an Afghan veteran singer of Afghanistan's music golden era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is credited to be the only singer to have rivaled, at the zenith of his career, the popularity of Ahmad Zahir.
Ahmad Morid comes from Kabul and grew up among eight siblings, the youngest of five brothers. In kindergarten, he sang in a choir group under the supervision of Ustad Gholam Hussein Khan and Ustad Nazar Nataki (father of the famous Baba-e-Musiqi). Morid attended Habibiya Kabul high school where he learned the harmonium and received vocal training from Ustad Salim Sarmast. In 1975, after securing a job at Radio Afghanistan, he sang on the air for the first time. His first song, "Sitaragan bochanet ba Aseman Rasanen Awase Qalb mara ba khakashan" was composed for him by Rasanen Ustad Nainawas. That same year, Ahmad Morid composed two other songs. With these two songs, Ahmad Morid gained nationwide fame. Finally, Morid devoted himself entirely to music.
Under the government of Taraki and Amin, in 1979, like thousands of others, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death. During eight months of incarceration, Morid wrote many songs, including "hagar dam dam masanet yaran masanet" and "ISQ-o-Gonaiye Watan". In the year of his release, he became a music director of Afghan television.
Morid left Afghanistan after militants stormed a concert which he was attending. He took a flight to Moscow where he lived from 1980 to 1988, earning a degree in law there. He remained musically active and gave many concerts. He won first place in the biggest festival of the Soviet Union for Asian satellite states, the International Voice of Asia. Later, he lived for a while in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. He married in Tajikistan and fathered two children. Finally, he fled to Germany and settling initially in Heidelberg and then, in 2007, in Munich.
Morid regularly gives concerts in Germany and abroad.