Djourabek Nazri: Ahmad Zahir had a Russian song
June 21, 2010- First Soviet Tajik who became a friend of Ahmad Zahir
- Why Soviets did
not allow Djourabek back to Afghanistan?
Dr. Djourabek Nazri, I usually
call aka Djourabek due to our
very close relations between our families, has
always been to me as an elder brother and best friend of mine.
First time I invited him to a studio of my “Payvand” Talk show of First channel of Radio of Tajikistan around 25 years ago. I wanted to talk to him about his friendship relation with the King of East Pop the late Ahmad Zahir but due to Soviet system’s approach and rules that our talk was banned to broadcast. KGB’s representatives did not permit to broadcast that our conversation. That subject for long time has been out of coverage for media of the Soviet Tajikistan.
In many years of the Soviet Union”s collapse, I have got when Djourabek was sent to Afghanistan as interpreter he met Ahmad Zahir. The first meeting of two great musicians turned into very close friendship relations. Meanwhile, the friendship of two musicians, the one Tajik of the Soviet Union, another from Afghanistan was not lasted long. But that short friendship of the representatives of two nations: Afghanistan and now independent Tajikistan just nowadays means a very immense for every fan of Ahmad Zahir across Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
A few years ago when we met each other in Europe, I frankly asked Dr. Djourabek Nazri:
“How come, when your vacation was over (in the Soviet Union), KGB barred you from traveling to Afghanistan?”
According to Dr. Djourabek Nazri, KGB’s agents when discovered a Soviet interpreter in Kabul spending his spare time with Ahmad Zahir, a son of prime minister of Afghanistan during Shah’s rule, Russian communists scared of that fact of public appearance of a citizen of the Soviet Union accompanied by prime minister’s son of a foreign country is unacceptable. Even KGB officers from the Soviet Embassy in Kabul were sent to Kremlin reports that were said Ahmad Zahir and his well-known father allegedly had connections with CIA and the Soviets implied Djourabek Nazri’s further presence in that country could be damaged by that kind of relations.
Kremlin in 24 hours decided not to send back Djourabek from his vacation to Afghanistan. That meant Djourabek had no right to come back to that country. After 24 long years of his sad leaving, Djourabek was given a permission to return to Kabul to pay tribute to Ahmad Zahir…
After a while of Djourabek's leaving from Afghanistan, Ahmad Zahir was ruthlessly killed by a gang of murderers. It happened the 14th of June 1979 in his and Djourabek birthday.
The song “I met a girl” ("Didam jamale"/"Ya vstretil devoushku") was written by Mirza Toursounzadeh, a classic of Tajik modern literature, was performed by the late Ahmad Zahir (Afghanistan), Dr. Djourabek Nazri and the Tajik poetess Mehriniso (Tajikistan) in the Jangalak house (outskirt of Kabul) of a couple Shahbaz and Mehriniso Kabiri in the year of 1976.
The song performed in Persian and Russian. We would like to present to you that song from archive of Dr. Djourabek Nazri. It needs to thank my colleagues Soultan Hamad and Ahmadshah Soultan (the web site of www.ruzgar.tj, Tajikistan) for presenting that discovery to fans of Ahmad Zahir.
First time I invited him to a studio of my “Payvand” Talk show of First channel of Radio of Tajikistan around 25 years ago. I wanted to talk to him about his friendship relation with the King of East Pop the late Ahmad Zahir but due to Soviet system’s approach and rules that our talk was banned to broadcast. KGB’s representatives did not permit to broadcast that our conversation. That subject for long time has been out of coverage for media of the Soviet Tajikistan.
In many years of the Soviet Union”s collapse, I have got when Djourabek was sent to Afghanistan as interpreter he met Ahmad Zahir. The first meeting of two great musicians turned into very close friendship relations. Meanwhile, the friendship of two musicians, the one Tajik of the Soviet Union, another from Afghanistan was not lasted long. But that short friendship of the representatives of two nations: Afghanistan and now independent Tajikistan just nowadays means a very immense for every fan of Ahmad Zahir across Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
A few years ago when we met each other in Europe, I frankly asked Dr. Djourabek Nazri:
“How come, when your vacation was over (in the Soviet Union), KGB barred you from traveling to Afghanistan?”
According to Dr. Djourabek Nazri, KGB’s agents when discovered a Soviet interpreter in Kabul spending his spare time with Ahmad Zahir, a son of prime minister of Afghanistan during Shah’s rule, Russian communists scared of that fact of public appearance of a citizen of the Soviet Union accompanied by prime minister’s son of a foreign country is unacceptable. Even KGB officers from the Soviet Embassy in Kabul were sent to Kremlin reports that were said Ahmad Zahir and his well-known father allegedly had connections with CIA and the Soviets implied Djourabek Nazri’s further presence in that country could be damaged by that kind of relations.
Kremlin in 24 hours decided not to send back Djourabek from his vacation to Afghanistan. That meant Djourabek had no right to come back to that country. After 24 long years of his sad leaving, Djourabek was given a permission to return to Kabul to pay tribute to Ahmad Zahir…
After a while of Djourabek's leaving from Afghanistan, Ahmad Zahir was ruthlessly killed by a gang of murderers. It happened the 14th of June 1979 in his and Djourabek birthday.
The song “I met a girl” ("Didam jamale"/"Ya vstretil devoushku") was written by Mirza Toursounzadeh, a classic of Tajik modern literature, was performed by the late Ahmad Zahir (Afghanistan), Dr. Djourabek Nazri and the Tajik poetess Mehriniso (Tajikistan) in the Jangalak house (outskirt of Kabul) of a couple Shahbaz and Mehriniso Kabiri in the year of 1976.
The song performed in Persian and Russian. We would like to present to you that song from archive of Dr. Djourabek Nazri. It needs to thank my colleagues Soultan Hamad and Ahmadshah Soultan (the web site of www.ruzgar.tj, Tajikistan) for presenting that discovery to fans of Ahmad Zahir.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_U_Hc7iAMQ
Ravshan Temourian
P.S. More about commemoration day of Ahmad Zahir in Tajikistan see at http://ruzgor.tj/yodi-ruzgori-shirin /2484-2010-06-14-17-47-07.html
Posted by Botur Kosimi.
